Heavy Metals Make a Chain: A Catenated Bismuth Compound

Robert D Riley; Diane A Dickie; Michael A Land; Richard A Kemp; Charles L B Macdonald; Ulrike Werner-Zwanziger; Katherine N Robertson; Jason A C Clyburne

doi:10.1002/chem.202001295

Heavy Metals Make a Chain: A Catenated Bismuth Compound

Chemistry. 2020 Jun 18;26(34):7711-7719. doi: 10.1002/chem.202001295. Epub 2020 May 25.

Authors

Robert D Riley¹, Diane A Dickie^{2

3}, Michael A Land¹, Richard A Kemp², Charles L B Macdonald⁴, Ulrike Werner-Zwanziger⁵, Katherine N Robertson¹, Jason A C Clyburne¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada.
² Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131, USA.
³ Current address: Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22904, USA.
⁴ Carleton University, 203 Steacie Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Clean Technologies Research Institute, NMR-3, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2, Canada.

PMID: 32298506
DOI: 10.1002/chem.202001295

Abstract

Catenation is common for the light main-group elements whereas it is rare for the heavy elements. Herein, we report the first example of a neutral molecule containing a Bi₄ chain. It is prepared in a one-step reaction between bismuth trichloride and bis(diisopropylphosphino)amine in methanol suspension. The same reaction carried out in dichloromethane gives quite different products. All products have been characterized spectroscopically and using single-crystal X-ray analysis.

Keywords: X-ray crystallography; bismuth; catenation; chain structure.

Abstract

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