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 (CH2 (PPh2 NFc)2 ). Deprotonation of CH2 (PPh2 NFc)2 with KN(SiMe3 )2 gave the dimeric species [K{CH(PPh2 NFc)2 }]2 , which was further reacted with ECl2 (E=Ge, Sn) to yield the tetrylene compounds [{CH(PPh2 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(PPh2 NFc)2 }ECl] with [AuC6 F5 (tht)] resulted in the bimetallic complexes [{(AuC6 F5 )CH(PPh2 NFc)2 }ECl] with an unusual Au coordination on the ligand backbone.