Bi- and tridentate coordination behaviour of a novel bis(phosphinimino)methanide ligand.

Herein, we report the synthesis of a novel ferrocenyl-functionalized bis(phosphinimino)methane ligand (CH 2 (PPh 2 NFc) 2 ). Deprotonation of CH 2 (PPh 2 NFc) 2 with KN(SiMe 3 ) 2 gave the dimeric species [K{CH(PPh 2 NFc) 2 }] 2 , which was further reacted with ECl 2 (E=Ge, Sn) to yield the tetrylene compounds [{CH(PPh 2 NFc) 2 }ECl]. The ligand and the resulting tetrylenes were examined for their electrochemical properties with the aid of cyclic voltammetry. Furthermore, the reaction of the tetrylenes [{CH(PPh 2 NFc) 2 }ECl] with [AuC 6 F 5 (tht)] resulted in the bimetallic complexes [{(AuC 6 F 5 )CH(PPh 2 NFc) 2 }ECl] with an unusual Au coordination on the ligand backbone.