Metalation of the bulky phosphinimine 4-MeC
6H
4CH(SiMe
3)P(Ph)
2=NSiMe
3 (
1) with
n-butyllithium followed by recrystallization from benzene affords [Li{4-MeC
6H
4C(SiMe
3)P(Ph)
2=NSiMe
3}]
2 (
3), while Li(THF)
2{4-MeC
6H
4C(SiMe
3)P(Ph)
2=NSiMe
3} (
2) is formed inthe presence of THF. Similarly, treatment of the N-mesityl compound 4-Bu
tC
6H
4CH(SiMe
3)P(Ph)
2=NC
6H
2Me
3-2,4,6 (
4) with Bu
nLi in the presence of THF produced Li(THF)
2{4-Bu
tC
6H
4C(SiMe
3)P(Ph)
2=NC
6H
2Me
3-2,4,6} (
5), while lithiation of the new phosphorus ylid 4-Bu
tC
6H
4CH
2P(Ph)
2{=C(SiMe
3)C
6H
4Bu
t-4} (
6) afforded Li(THF)
2{4-Bu
tC
6H
4CHP(Ph)
2C(SiMe
3)C
6H
4Bu
t-4} (
7). The solid-state structures of
2,
3,
5, and
7 were determined. Whereas the anionin
2 acts simply as a C-N chelate, the MeC
6H
4 moieties in the dimeric compound
3 are
6-bonded. On the other hand, compound
5 contains an aryl substituent that is
1-coordinatedto Li
+ via its
ipso-carbon, while the ylid anion
7 displays an unusual
1-coordination to one
ortho-C atom of a strongly tilted arene ring. The results demonstrate the surprisingly variablecoordination behavior of aryl-substituted [CPN]
- and [CPC]
- anions and the importance ofaryl substituents in stabilizing electron-deficient metal centers.