A magnesium-bis(diaryldiketiminate) complex.
The 1:1 of reaction of dibutylmagnesium with the ligand 2-[(2-isopropylphenyl)amino]-4-[(2-isopropylphenyl)imino]pent-2-ene gives only the 1:2 metal-ligand compound bis[N,N'-bis(2-isopropylphenyl)pentane-2,4-diiminato]magnesium(II), [Mg(C(23)H(29)N(2))(2)], as an isolated solid. The coordination geometry about the Mg atom is distorted tetrahedral [N-Mg-N angles range from 90.73 (5) to 136.40 (6) degrees ], with the metal lying out of the ligand plane. The ligands themselves have non-crystallographic C(s) geometry. The structure is isotypic with the Zn analogue, and the small differences between these two structures provide evidence for a significant covalent contribution to bonds that are generally described as largely ionic.
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