Solid-State Structures of Base-Free Indenyllithium and Fluorenylsodium

The solid-state structures of two important organometallic reagents, base-free indenyllithium and base-free fluorenylsodium, were determined by high-resolution X-ray powder diffraction experiments. Indenyllithium crystallizes as an infinite chain in the fashion of a “multidecker structure”, whereas fluorenylsodium forms the saltlike structure Na<INF>2</INF>[NaFl<INF>3</INF>], containing the novel trigonal [NaFl<INF>3</INF>]^2- anion.