Abstract
The phosphonium ylide MePh2P(flu) (3) (flu = C13H8, fluorenylidene) was conveniently prepared by reaction of Ph2P(fluH) (1) (fluH = C13H9, fluorenyl) with iodomethane, followed by subsequent dehydrohalogenation of the resulting phosphonium salt [MePh2P(fluH)]I (2) by potassium tert-butoxide. Compound 3 was further deprotonated by n-butyllithium, yielding the corresponding lithium complex [Li{CH2PPh2(flu)}(tmeda)] (4) in presence of N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (tmeda). This mononuclear lithium compound contains the monoanionic chelating diylidic ligand. An exchange of the neutral bidentate tmeda by tridentate N,N,N′,N′′,N′′-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (pmdta) enforces a change in coordination mode. Consequently, the diylide is monodentate in [Li{CH2PPh2(flu)}(pmdta)] (5). Compounds 1–5 were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments.
Graphical abstract
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Acknowledgements
Infrastructure of the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry (Friedrich Schiller University) was provided by the EU (European Regional Development Fund, EFRE). We thank Sascha Meyer for some preparative assistance.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
Dedicated to Professor Rudi van Eldik on the occasion of his 70th birthday.