Structural Diversity of Lithium N‐Mesityl‐P,P‐diphenylphosphinimidate of the type [(L)Li{O−PPh2=N−Mes]n Depending on Lewis Base L.

Metalation of N‐mesityl‐P,P‐diphenylphosphinic amide with nBuLi in toluene yields tetranuclear lithium N‐mesityl‐P,P‐diphenylphosphinimidate ([Ph2P(OLi)=N−Mes]4, 1). Metalation of Ph2P(O)−N(H)Mes with a mixture of dibutylmagnesium and butyllithium in DME leads to formation of dinuclear [Ph2P{OLi(dme)}=N−Mes]2 (2). Excess of Ph2P(O)−N(H)Mes gives dinuclear [Li(O−PPh2=N−Mes){Ph2P(=O)−N(H)−Mes}]2 (3) with three‐coordinate alkali ions. The metathetical approach via reaction of 1 with anhydrous magnesium bromide in ethereal solution yields [{(thf)LiBr}2{(thf)Li(O−PPh2=NMes)(Et2O)Li(O−PPh2=NMes)}] (4). Heterobimetallic Li/Mg compounds are not accessible by these protocols. Reactions of 1 with DME, with excess of Ph2P(O)−N(H)Mes or with LiBr allows the straightforward conversion to compounds 2, 3 and 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]