Reinvestigation of the reaction of strontium and barium with iodobenzene and molecular structure of the heavy Grignard reagent [((thf)2BaPh2)4 · (thf)BaO] with an oxygen-centered square Ba5 pyramid

The direct synthesis of activated strontium and barium with iodobenzene in THF yields the corresponding THF complexes of phenylstrontium and phenylbarium iodide, respectively, which dismutate into the homoleptic compounds MPh2 and MI2. Already at low temperatures ether cleavage reactions take place and from this reaction, the oxygen-centered cage [((thf)2BaPh2)4 · (thf)BaO] was isolated and its molecular structure determined.