Transition Metal Chemistry of Low Valent Group 13 Organyls

Abstract

Abstract The coordination of low‐valent group 13 organyls E I R [E = Al, Ga, In; R = Cp*, C(SiMe 3 ) 3 ] to transition metals has attracted increasing interest over the past decade. Complexes and cluster compounds of these new ligands with a number of transition metals have been isolated and characterised. The E I R moiety is formally isolobal with CO and PR 3 (R = alkyl, Cp*) or carbenes (R = chelating group) with varying σ‐donor and π‐acceptor properties depending on the organic group R as well as the group 13 metal E. In this review, different ways of forming M−E bonds such as substitution reactions of labile ligands or insertion of E I R into transition metal halide bonds are described. Furthermore, the reactivity of homoleptic complexes M a (E I R) b is discussed, outlining the use of these new complex types in bond activation reactions. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)