Formation and structure of the first metal complexes comprising amidino­guanidinate ligands

The first metal complexes comprising amidino­guanidinate ligands have been prepared and structurally characterized, namely bis­[μ-N,N′,N′′,N′′′-tetraisopropyl-1-(1-butyl­amidinato)guanidinato-κ3N1,N2:N2]bis­[(tetra­hydro­furan)lithium], [Li2(C18H37N4)2(C4H8O)2], (2), and [bis­(tetra­hydro­furan)­lithium]-di-μ-chlorido-{(N,N′-di­cyclo­hexyl-1-butyl­amidinato-κ2N1,N2)[N,N′,N′′,N′′′-tetra­cyclo­hexyl-1-(1-butyl­amidinato)guanidinato-κ2N1,N2]holmate(III)}, [HoLiCl2(C4H8O)2(C17H31N2)(C30H53N4)], (3). The novel lithium amidino­guanidinate precursors Li[nBuC(=NR)(NR)C(NR)2] [1: R = Cy (cyclo­hex­yl), 2: R = iPr) were obtained by treatment of N,N′-diorganocarbodi­imides, R—N=C=N—R (R = iPr, Cy), with 0.5 equivalents of n-butyl­lithium under well-defined reaction conditions. An X-ray diffraction study of 2 revealed a ladder-type dimeric structure in the solid state. Reaction of anhydrous holmium(III) chloride with in situ-prepared 2 afforded the unexpected holmium `ate' complex [nBuC(=NCy)(NCy)C(NCy)2]Ho[nBuC(NCy)2](μ-Cl)2Li(THF)2 (3) in 71% yield. An X-ray crystal structure determination of 3 showed that this complex contains both an amidinate ligand and the new amidino­guanidinate ligand.