Inorganic Chemistry, Vol.57, No.15, 9079-9085, 2018
Syntheses and Crystal Structures of Phenyl-Lithium Derivatives
Although organolithium compounds have been studied and applied for similar to 100 years, only few crystal structures of pure, unsolvated organolithium compounds have been reported so far. Therefore, several phenyl-lithium derivatives were synthesized by lithium-halogen exchange reactions, yielding fairly soluble polymers in the cases of 4- and 2-methylphenyl-lithium (p-TolLi and o-TolLi). Their crystal structures have been determined by X-ray powder diffraction. Remarkably, o-TolLi crystallizes in the noncentrosymmetric space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with two independent monomers, whereas the crystal structure of p-TolLi is described in spacegroup P2(1)/a. In contrast, no polymer of 5-m-XyLi (3,5-dimethyl-phenyl-lithium) could be observed, but single crystals of a [(5-m-XyLi)(3)(MTBE)(3)LiBr] adduct were isolated (MTBE = methyl-tert-butylether). This gives hints on the nature of lithium-halogen exchange reactions. Steric and electronic effects of the phenyl-lithium substitution are further discussed in conjunction with related compounds.