A mu(4)-oxide-containing a dimeric variant of a sodium dialkyl(amido)zincate reagent

Post-metallation derivatives of the sodium dialkyl(amido)zincate reagent (TMEDA) Na(mu-TMP)Zn(Bu-t)(2) (TMEDA is N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine and TMP is 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide) have been of structural interest due to the insight they give into aromatic metallation mechanisms. Here, the aromatic substrate is formally replaced with [ZnO](2) to give tetra-tert-butyldi-mu(4)-oxido-bis(tetramethylethylenediamine-kappa N-2,N')bis(mu(2)-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-ido-kappa N-2:N)-disodiumtetrazinc hexane 0.59-solvate, [Na2Zn4(C4H9)(4)-(C9H18N)(2)O-2(C6H16N2)(2)]center dot 0.59C(6)H(14). The crystallographically centrosymmetric complex retains many of the structural features of its parent monomer but has an unusual dimeric structure, with a central planar Zn-O-Zn-O ring joined to two orthogonal near-planar Zn-O-Na-N rings through the distorted tetrahedral geometries of the oxide ions.