Alkoxymagnesium Iodide Complexes

The complexes R(Ph)MeCOMg(Et2O)I [1, R = Me (a), Ph (b)] were obtained by the reaction of R(Ph)C=O with MeMgI in diethyl ether in good yields. Crystallisation of 1 from acetonitrile resulted in single crystals of di‐ and trinuclear complexes I2(μ‐OCPhMe2)2Mg(MeCN)4 (2) and {2[I(MeCN)Mg(μ‐OCPh2Me)2Mg(MeCN)I] (3) × [I(MeCN)Mg(μ‐OCPh2Me)2Mg(μ‐OCPh2Me)2Mg(MeCN)I] (4) × 2CH2Cl2} in which the metal centres are linked by alkoxy substituents. The thermal decomposition of the complexes 1 was studied by successive detection of the EI mass spectra of diethyl ether, the olefins 5, the tertiary alcohols 6, and the formal olefin dimers 7. The complexes R1(Ph)MeCOMg(Et2O)I [1, R1 = Me (a), Ph (b)] are obtained by the reaction of R1(Ph)C=O with MeMgI in diethyl ether in good yields. Crystallisation of 1 from acetonitrile results in single crystals of di‐ and trinuclear complexes (2, 3 and 4) in which the metal centres are linked by alkoxy substituents. The thermal decomposition of the complexes 1 is monitored by mass spectral detection of the decomposition products.