Isolation of a germanium(ii) cation and a germylene iron carbonyl complex utilizing an imidazolin-2-iminato ligand

Abstract

The novel amino(imino)germylene 1 was prepared by the conversion of HNIPr (NIPr = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-imino) with 1 equiv. of Ge[N(SiMe₃)₂]₂. Germylene 1 reacts with B(C₆F₅)₃ to afford the borate salt 2⁺[MeB(C₆F₅)₃]⁻ in a methyl-abstraction and ring-closing reaction. The conversion of 2 with Fe₂(CO)₉ furnishes the germylene iron carbonyl complex 3 with a trigonal planar-coordinate germanium atom.