Copper Imidazolin-imine Coordination Compounds as Precursors for a Cu/Al Complex.

The reactions of [(CF 3 SO 3 Cu) 2 (C 6 H 6 )] with the sterically hindered imidazolin-2-imine ligands DippImTMS (1,3-Bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2-(trimethylsilylimino)imidazoline) or DippImH (1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl) imidazolin-2-imine) lead to the formation of the linear copper(I) complexes [Cu(DippImTMS)(OTf)] ( 1 ) and [Cu(DippImH) 2 ][OTf] ( 2 ), respectively. The triflate counteranion in 2 can be easily exchanged to the weakly coordinating [BAr F ] giving [Cu(DippImH) 2 ][BAr F ] ( 3 ) (BAr F = tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate). Substitution of the N-heterocyclic imine (NHI) ligand in 3 by AlCp* (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) gives the tetrahedral [Cu(AlCp*) 4 ][BAr F ] ( 5 ). The reaction between lithiated imidazolin-2-iminate DippImLi and CuCl results in the triangular cluster [Cu 3 (DippIm) 2 Cl] ( 4 ). All products have been fully characterized by 1 H- and 13 C NMR, mass spectrometry, as well as SC-XRD.