Lithium tetrakis(di-t-butylmethyleneamino)aluminate

Abstract

The compound LiAl(N : CBu^t ₂)₄, prepared from AlCl₃+ 4 Bu^t ₂C : NLi, has been shown by X-ray diffraction to contain an aluminium atom surrounded by a distorted tetrahedron of di-t-butylmethyleneamino-groups, two terminally attached, with the near-linear C : NAl skeletons and short Al–N distances appropriate for appreciable NAl (p→d) dative π-bonding, the other two bridging the aluminium to the lithium, which is also apparently involved in a novel type of Li H–C interaction.