A digermanium(III) 1,2-dication stabilized by amidinate and cAAC-phosphinidenide ligands

Abstract

Digermanium(III) 1,2-dication comprises two cationic centres located at two inter-connected germanium atoms. The strong Coulombic repulsion among two positively charged germanium cations hinders the bond formation between them. Balancing these two oppositions was achieved by using amidinate and cyclic (alkyl)amino carbene-phosphinidenide ligands, where an amidinato cAAC-phosphinidenidogermylene complex [LGeP(cAACMe)] (2, L = PhC(NtBu)2, cAACMe = :C{C(Me)2CH2C(Me)2NAr}, Ar = 2,6-iPr2C6H3) underwent one-electron oxidation with a bis-phosphinidene radical cation [(cAACMe)P]2+‧ to form a digermanium(III) 1,2-dication [LGeP(cAACMe)]22+ ¬¬in compound 4.