The reaction of anhydrous YCl
3 with an equimolar amount of lithium
N,
N'-dicyclohexyl-
N' '-bis(trimethylsilyl)guanidinate, Li[(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2], in THF afforded the monoguanidinate dichloro complex[{(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2}Y{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-Cl)
2Li(THF)
2}(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-Cl)]
2 (
1). X-ray diffraction study showed that complex
1has a bimetallic tetranuclear dimeric core with six
2-bridging chloro ligands. Treatment of complex
1with 4 molar equiv of LiCH
2SiMe
3 in hexane at 0
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C yielded the monomeric salt-free dialkyl complex{(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2}Y(CH
2SiMe
3)
2(THF)
2 (
2). The monoguanidinate tetramethyl ate-complex {(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2}Y[(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-Me)
2Li(TMEDA)]
2 (
3) was prepared by the reaction of complex
1 with 8 equiv ofMeLi in the presence of excess TMEDA in toluene at 20
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C. The complexes
2 and
3 were structurallycharacterized. Alkylation of complex
1 with
t-BuLi (1:4 molar ratio) in hexane resulted in the formationof the bis(guanidinate) alkyl yttrium complex {(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2}
2Y(
t-Bu) (
4) in 42% yield. Theguanidinate ligand redistribution was also observed in the reaction of the mono(guanidinate) dichloroyttrium complex {(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2}YCl
2(Et
2O) (
5) with 2 molar equiv of LiCH
2SiMe
3 in hexane at 0
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C. This reaction afforded ate-complex {(Me
3Si)
2NC(NCy)
2}
2Y(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-CH
2SiMe
3)
2Li (
6) in 34% yield. TheX-ray diffraction study has revealed a low formal coordination number of the lithium atom in
6 and itsagostic interaction with two methyl carbon atoms of SiMe
3 groups.