A monotopic aluminum telluride with an Al=Te double bond stabilized by N-heterocyclic carbenes.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26612781.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms10037 and PMC identifier 4674676.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Aluminum chalcogenides are mostly encountered in the form of bulk aluminum oxides that are structurally diverse but typically consist of networks with high lattice energy in which the chalcogen atoms bridge the metal centres. This makes their molecular congeners difficult to synthesize because of a pronounced tendency for oligomerization. Here we describe the isolation of the monotopic aluminum chalcogenide (L(Dip)N)AlTe(L(Et))2 (L(Dip)=1,3-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-imidazolin-2-imine, L(Et)=1,3-diethyl-4,5-dimethyl-imidazolin-2-ylidene). Unique features of (L(Dip)N)AlTe(L(Et))2 are the terminal position of the tellurium atom, the shortest aluminum-tellurium distance hitherto reported for a molecular complex and the highest bond order reported for an interaction between these elements, to the best of our knowledge. At elevated temperature (L(Dip)N)AlTe(L(Et))2 equilibrates with dimeric {(L(Dip)N)AlTe(L(Et))}2 in which the chalcogen atoms assume their common role as bridges between the metal centres. These findings demonstrate that (L(Dip)N)AlTe(L(Et))2 comprises the elusive Al=Te double bond in the form of an N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized species.