Cameron Jones, Jonathan W. Steed and Ryan C. Thomas
The reactions of [Li{Sb(SiMe3)2}] with RCOCl, R = C6H2But3-2,4,6 (Mes*) or C6H2Me3-2,4,6 (Mes), afford mixtures of the 2,3-distibabutadienes, {R(Me3SiO)CSb}2, and the 2-stiba-1,3-dionatolithium complexes, [Li{OC(R)SbC(R)O}(DME)n], n = 1 or 0.5, the latter of which (R = Mes*) can be protonated to give the first stiba-enol, Mes*C(O)Sb
C(OH)Mes*, which has been structurally characterised.