Inversely Coordinating Silanide Ions in an Oligomeric Sodium Alcoholate

Abstract

The H atoms and not the Si atom of the SiH3 groups coordinate to two of the eight Na atoms in [Na8(OC2H4OC2H4OCH3)6-(SiH3)2]. Shown here is the novel Na8O6 polyhedron containing the two SiH3 groups. The surfaces of the Na8 cube are capped by oxygen atoms. Ab initio calculations on a suitable model showed that the inverted coordination mode is indeed energetically more favorable.