Uranium(IV) Alkyl Complexes of a Rigid Dianionic NON-Donor Ligand: Synthesis and Quantitative Alkyl Exchange Reactions with Alkyllithium Reagents

Reaction of [(XA2)UCl3{K(dme)3}] (XA2 = 4,5-bis(2,6-diisopropylanilino)-2,7-di-tert-butyl-9,9-dimethylxanthene) with 2 equiv of ((trimethylsilyl)methyl)lithium or neopentyllithium afforded red-orange [(XA2)U(CH2SiMe3)2] (1) and dark red [(XA2)U(CH2CMe3)2] (2), respectively. Reaction of 1 with an additional 1 equiv of LiCH2SiMe3 in THF yielded yellow [Li(THF) x ][(XA2)U(CH2SiMe3)3] (3), and reaction of [(XA2)UCl3{K(dme)3}] with 3 equiv of methyllithium in dme afforded yellow [Li(dme)3][(XA2)UMe3] (4). Reaction of 1 with 2.1 equiv of LiCH2CMe3 in benzene resulted in rapid conversion to 2, with release of 2 equiv of LiCH2SiMe3. Similarly, reaction of 1 with 3.3 equiv of MeLi in THF provided 4 as the [Li(THF) x ]+ salt, accompanied by 2 equiv of LiCH2SiMe3. These unusual alkyl exchange reactions resemble salt metathesis reactions, but with elimination of an alkyllithium instead of a lithium halide. Addition of a large excess of LiCH2SiMe3 to 2 or 4 did not generate detectable amounts of 1 by NMR spectroscopy, suggesting that the equilibrium in these reactions lies far to the side of complexes 2 and 4. In contrast, the reaction of [(XA2)Th(CH2SiMe3)2] (1-Th) with 2.2 equiv of LiCH2CMe3 yielded an approximate 1:1:3:1 mixture of [(XA2)Th(CH2CMe3)2] (2-Th), [(XA2)Th(CH2SiMe3)(CH2CMe3)] (5-Th), LiCH2SiMe3, and LiCH2CMe3.