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Title: Electronic structure and bonding in four-coordinate organometallic complexes of aluminum. Valence photoelectron spectra of BHT-H, Me sub 3 Al(PMe sub 3 ), and Me sub 2 (BHT)Al(PMe sub 3 )

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society; (USA)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00165a016· OSTI ID:6653603
;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson (USA)
  2. Harvard univ., Cambridge, MA (USA)

The He I valence photoelectron spectra of the Lewis acid-base adducts Me{sub 3}Al(PMe{sub 3}) and Me{sub 2}(BHT)Al(PMe{sub 3}) (BHT{minus}H = 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol) have been obtained to characterize the electronic structure and bonding in four-coordinate organometallic complexes of aluminum. To aid in the assignment of the spectrum of Me{sub 2}(BHT)Al(PMe{sub 3}), the spectrum of the free alcohol, BHT-H, was also obtained. The first and second ionizations of the free BHT-H alcohol show vibrational progressions associated with the symmetric C-C phenyl ring stretching modes, consistent with the b{sub 1} and a{sub 2} {pi} ionizations, respectively, of monosubstituted phenyl rings. In the photoelectron spectrum of BHT coordinated to aluminum in Me{sub 2}(BHT)Al(PMe{sub 3}), the corresponding phenoxide a{sub 2} ionization retains the vibrational structure, but the individual vibrational components are lost in the ionization that corresponds most closely with the b{sub 1}. The loss of vibrational fine structure associated with ionization from the phenyl {pi} b{sub 1} orbital in the coordinated phenoxide shows that the phenoxide is involved in a {pi} interaction with the Me{sub 2}Al(PMe{sub 3}) portion of the molecule.

OSTI ID:
6653603
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society; (USA), Vol. 112:9; ISSN 0002-7863
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English