Structurally characterised intermediate of the oxidative addition of a heteroleptic germylene to gallanediyle.

Bond activation reactions using main group metal complexes are gaining increasing interest. We report on reactions of LGa (L = HC[C(Me)N(Ar)] 2 , Ar = Dipp = 2,6- i -Pr 2 C 6 H 3 ,) with heteroleptic tetrylenes L'ECl (E = Ge, Sn; L' = N(SiMe 3 )Ar), yielding the donor-acceptor complex LGa-Sn(Cl)L' (1) or the oxidative addition product L(Cl)GaGeL' (3). The reaction with DMPGeCl (DMP = 2,6-Mes 2 C 6 H 3 , Mes = 2,4,6-Me 3 C 6 H 2 ) yielded LGa(μ-Cl)GeDMP (2), which represents an intermediate of the oxidative addition reaction. 1-3 were characterized by NMR and IR spectroscopy as well as by single crystal X-ray diffraction (sc-XRD), while their electronic nature was analyzed by quantum chemical calculations.