TRIMESITYLGERMYLCARBODIIMIDE LITHIUM, PRECURSOR FOR NEW MIXED POLYMETALLATED CARBODIIMIDE AND POLYCARBODIIMIDES OF Ge, Si, Sb

Abstract

Trimesitylgermylcarbodiimide lithium characterized in the reaction of trimesitylgermylchloride on dilithium cyanamide, is the starting material to stable germylsilyl or unsymetric digermylcarbodiimides. The non hindered Ge-N bond of triethylgermylcarbodiimide is cleaved by t-butyllithium providing another route to unsymetric N-triethylgermyl-N'-silylcarbodiimide.

Trimesitylgermylcarbodiimide lithium reacts with metal dihalides yielding trimetalled (Ge, Sb) dicarbodiimides. X-ray structure of bis(trimesitylgermylcarbodiimido)diethylgermane confirms the inequivalence of the two carbodiimides groups observed by infrared spectroscopy.

N-diethylchlorogermyl-N'-trimesitylgermylcarbodiimide with dilithium cyanamide leads to a tetragermyltricarbodiimide: the bis(N-diethylgermyl-N'-trimesitylgermylcarbodiimido)-carbodiimide, in which inequivalence of the ethyl groups can be explained by the steric hindrance of terminal trimesitylgermyl carbodiimido groups.

Key Words:

• trimesitylgermylcarbodiimide lithium
• dimetallated carbodiimides
• silyl and stibyl germylcarbodiimides
• metallated polycarbodiimides
• polygermylpolycarbodiimides