Facile synthesis and structural variation of novel heterobimetallic alkali metal–zinc-alkoxide and -siloxide clusters†
Abstract
The novel alkali metal zinc-alkoxide and the first -siloxide aggregates [(thf)M(MeZn)(OtBu)2]21a
(M = Li), 1b
(M = Na), [(thf)2K(MeZn)(OSiMe3)2]22 and [(tmeda)KZn(OSiMe3)3]23 are easily accessible from the reaction of Me2Zn with MOR (molar ratio 1 ∶ 1; M = Li, Na, K; R =
tBu, SiMe3) in boiling thf and tmeda, respectively. While 1a, 1b and 2 possess distorted M2Zn2O4 heterocubane frameworks, compound 3 consists of a K2Zn2O6 core of a strongly distorted, face-fused double-heterocubane with two missing corners. In contrast, heating a mixture of Me2Zn and KOtBu in the molar ratio of 1 ∶ 1 in