Bis(aluminyl)magnesium: a source of nucleophilic or radical aluminium-centred reactivity.

The homoleptic magnesium bis(aluminyl) compound Mg[Al(NON)]2 (NON = 4,5-bis(2,6-diisopropylanilido)-2,7-di-tert-butyl -9,9-dimethylxanthene) can be accessed from K2[Al(NON)]2 and MgI2 and shown to possess a non-linear geometry (ÐAl-Mg-Al = 164.8(1)°) primarily due to the influence of dispersion interactions. This compound acts a four-electron reservoir in the reductive de-fluorination of SF6, and reacts thermally with polar substrates such as MeI via nucleophilic attack through aluminium, consistent with the QT-AIM charges calculated for the metal centres, and a formal description as a Al(I)-Mg(II)-Al(I) trimetallic. On the other hand, under photolytic activation, the reaction with 1,5-cyclooctadiene leads to the stereo-selective generation of transannular cycloaddition products consistent with radical based chemistry, emphasizing the covalent nature of the Mg-Al bonds and a description as a Al(II)-Mg(0)-Al(II) synthon. Consistently, photolysis of Mg[Al(NON)]2 in hexane in the absence of COD generates [Al(NON)]2 together with magnesium metal.