Developments in synthetic methods for and reactivity of heavier tetrylene and tetrylyne complexes of the d-block elements are summarised, with a view towards cooperative bond activation and utilisation in catalysis.
Lappert's heavier tetrylenes E{N(SiMe3)2}2 (E = Ge, Sn, Pb) have been efficiently prepared from GeCl2·(1,4-dioxane), SnCl2 or PbCl2 and Li{N(SiMe3)2} via a completely solvent-free one-pot mechanochemical route followed by sublimation.
Half a century since the photolytic disproportionation of Lappert's dialkyl stannylene SnR2, R = CH(SiMe3)2 (1) gave the persistent trivalent radical [˙SnR3], the characterization of the corresponding Sn(I) product, ˙SnR is now described.
Homoleptic germylenes and stannylenes with symmetric and unsymmetric sulfonimidamide ligands have been prepared by protonolysis reaction of Lappert’s metallylenes, and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis.