A mixed aluminum-sodium phenolate ring compound with an oxo core has been synthesized and crystallographically characterized as a new inverse crown ether complex, together with some of its precursors. The experimental results showed that the Al-Na inverse crown ether can be obtained from two different approaches: (1) hydrolysis of [(EDBP)Al(CH(3))(2)Na(THF)(2)] (1), followed by condensation with [(EDBP)Al(CH(3))(mu(2)-OH)Na(THF)(3)] (2); (2) fast redox reaction by oxidation of a methyl group on complex 1 and reduction of molecular oxygen to oxide.