Synthesis and X-ray crystallographic characterisation of o-phenylenediamidomagnesium·tetrahydrofuran: the first octahedral Mg6 cluster

Crystals of o-phenylenediamidomagnesium tetrahydrofuran prepared at the interface of a sec-butyl-n-butyl magnesium in heptane-o-phenylenediamine in THF bilayered solution, have been shown by an X-ray diffraction study to consist of unprecedented, discrete octahedral Mg-6 clusters, held in place by six bridging, divalent, N-bonding ligands, and solvated by THF molecules to give the Mg atoms a five-coordinate, square-based pyramidal geometry overall.