Organogermanium reactive intermediates: The direct detection and characterization of transient germylenes and digermenes in solution

Laser flash photolysis methods were used to detect and characterize 1,1-diphenylgermylene (Ph2Ge) and its dimer, tetraphenyl digermene in solution. The germylene exhibited a weak long-wavelength UV/vis absorption and dimerized with an absolute rate constant of ca. 1 x 10(super 10)M(super -1)s(super -1) in hexane solution at ambient temperatures to yield 6a.