Zinc alkyl complexes have an interesting role in a wide variety of stoichiometric and catalytic transformations and understanding how the ligands affect reactivity is important in understanding these structures and their reactivity. This Hot Article from Andrew Wheatley and Janusz Lewinski et al. details experiments involving the reactions of Et2Zn with a bicyclic guanidine.
Exposure of the produced complex (EtZn(hpp)) to undried air alters the composition depending on whether THF or CH2Cl2 is used as the solvent (displayed above). You can read the full details of the teams investigation by downloading their article below, which is free to access for 4 weeks.
Synthesis, structure and unique reactivity of the ethylzinc derivative of a bicyclic guanidine
Karolina Zelga, Michał Leszczyński, Iwona Justyniak, Arkadiusz Kornowicz, Maciej Cabaj, Andrew E. H. Wheatley and Janusz Lewiński
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT11959E
