Novel Chelated Diorganolithate Ion [CH2SiMe2C(SiMe3)2LiC(SiMe3)2SiMe2CH2]-and Highly Crowded Chelated Organomercury Compound [CH2SiMe2C(SiMe3)2HgC(SiMe3)2SiMe2CH2]

The compound {(Me3Si)2CHSiMe2CH2}2 has been prepared and metalated with MeLi to give the chelated lithate ion [CH2SiMe2C(SiMe3)2LiC(SiMe3)2SiMe2CH2]-, which was isolated as its [Li(TMEDA)2] salt (TMEDA = N,N,N‘,N‘-tetramethylethylenediamine). The potential of this salt as a source of the very bulky dicarbanionic ligand {(Me3Si)2CSiMe2CH2}2 was demonstrated by its reaction with HgBr2 in THF to give the chelated mercury compound [CH2SiMe2C(SiMe3)2HgC(SiMe3)2SiMe2CH2]. The crystal structures of the salt and the mercurial compound were determined.