A missing family of the extremely air sensitive tripentelyltrielanes was discovered. Their stabilisation was achieved by using the bulky NHC IDipp (NHC=N-heterocyclic carbene, IDipp=1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-imidazolin-2-ylidene). The tripentelylgallanes and tripentelylalanes IDipp ⋅ Ga(PH2 )3 (1 a), IDipp ⋅ Ga(AsH2 )3 (1 b), IDipp ⋅ Al(PH2 )3 (2 a) and IDipp ⋅ Al(AsH2 )3 (2 b) were synthesised by salt metathesis of IDipp ⋅ ECl3 (E=Al, Ga, In) with alkali metal pnictogenides such as NaPH2 /LiPH2 ⋅ DME and KAsH2 , respectively. Moreover, the detection of the first NHC-stabilised tripentelylindiumane IDipp ⋅ In(PH2 )3 (3) was possible by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. Initial investigations of the coordination ability of these compounds resulted in the successful isolation of the coordination compound [IDipp ⋅ Ga(PH2 )2 (μ3 -PH2 {HgC6 F4 }3 )] (4) by reaction of 1 a with (HgC6 F4 )3 . The compounds were characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy as well as single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Supporting computational studies highlight the electronic features of the products.
Keywords: N-heterocyclic carbene; aluminium; gallium; indium; phosphorus.
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