Fluoroaryl-substituted ketiminate complexes of aluminum

The ketiminate complex AlCl[OC(Me)CHC(Me)N(p-C6H4F)]2 (4) has been prepared from the β-aminoenone, Odouble bond; length as m-dashC(Me)CHdouble bond; length as m-dashC(Me)N(H)(p-C6H4F) (3) by lithiation of 3 with n-BuLi, followed by reaction with AlCl3 and by the reaction of 3 with Me2AlCl. A second compound, [AlCl2{Odouble bond; length as m-dashC(Me)CHdouble bond; length as m-dashC(Me)N(H)(p-C6H4F)}4][AlCl4] (5), was also isolated from the AlCl3 reaction. The structures of 4 and 5 were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis.