Recently published work detailing a flattened almost planar four-coordinate methane derivative prepared by Dr Steve Liddle and co-workers in Nottingham has been highlighted in Chemistry World, Nature Chemistry, and Periodic Videos.
The concept of tetrahedral four-coordinate carbon has been a cornerstone of chemistry for well over 100 years. This paradigm was once absolute until theoretical models showed planar derivatives might be viable, and this has been realised experimentally by a handful of organometallic derivatives such as dilithio methane (Li2CH2).
However, up to now all derivatives were aggregated and arranged with the metals 90° apart. Now a monomeric form with the lithium centres opposite to each other has been isolated as a stable crystalline material simply by appending bulky groups to the methane carbon and adding the co-ligand tetramethylethylenediamine to block aggregation. Liddle says “The beauty of this compound is its simplicity, and we hope it will stimulate more activity in the pursuit of novel organometallic compounds by theoreticians and experimentalists”.
The study was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and has been highlighted in Chemistry World () and Nature Chemistry () and also featured by Periodic Videos ().
(Key for figure: C black, N blue, P magenta, Li red; hydrogen atoms omitted for clarity)
Posted on Friday 9th July 2010