A new book dealing with metal alkoxides and aryloxides, many of Group IV elements, has appeared. 1
Halides and their complexesThe octahedral complexes [TiF 4 L 2 ] (L = Ph 3 PO, Me 2 SO, (MeO) 3 PO, Et 2 O and MeCN) have been synthesised and shown to be present in solution mainly as the cis isomers. 2 Ligand exchange in [TiF 4 ((MeO) 3 PO) 2 ] occurs by a dissociative mechanism. When subjected to electron-beam irradiation, ZrCl 4 chains contained in single-walled carbon nanotubes undergo reductive conversion to clusters. 3 Mixtures of TiCl 4 with R 3 N (R e.g. Et) catalyse the reaction of in situ generated iminium salts with diarylketones to form 3,3-diarylcyclobutanones. 4 Similarly, ZrCl 4 -Pr i 2 EtN mediates Claisen ester condensations of α,α-dialkylated esters to afford thermodynamically unfavourable α,α-dialkylated β-ketoesters. 5 HfCl 4 catalyses the reaction of alkylvinylketones with N-tert-butylarylmethylideamine N-oxides to form 4-methylene-4,5-dihydroisoxazoles. 6 Reduction of TiCl 4 with Ti in the presence of ethers affords 7 complexes such as TiCl 3 (thf ) 3 . The structure of X[TiF 5 (H 2 O)] (X = piperazinium) has been reported; strong hydrogen bonds are formed between the fluorines and the diprotonated piperazinium ions, leading to a zig-zag chain structure. 8 A Raman study of ZrF 4 -KF melts indicates that co-ordination behaviour depends upon both composition and temperature. 9 KF-rich melts have an equilibrium between [ZrF 6 ] 2Ϫ and [ZrF 7 ] 3Ϫ , whilst in melts with high ZrF 4 content there is bridging of [ZrF 6 ] 2Ϫ octahedra yielding oligomers. Self-ionisation was suggested to occur in molten ZrF 4 . (H 3 N(CH 2 ) 4 NH 3 )[TiF 4 O] has a structure involving vertex-shared TiF 4 O 2/2 octahedra. 10 A range of six-co-ordinate [TiX 4 (L-L)] (X = Cl, Br; L-L = Ph 2 PCH 2 PPh 2 , Ph 2 -P(CH 2 ) 2 PPh 2 , Ph 2 P(CH 2 ) 3 PPh 2 , o-C 6 H 4 (PPh 2 ) 2 , o-C 6 H 4 (PMe 2 ) 2 , Ph 2 As(CH 2 ) 2 AsPh 2 , o-C 6 H 4 (AsMe 2 ) 2 and MeC(CH 2 AsMe 2 ) 3 ) and eight-co-ordinate [TiX 4 (L-L) 2 ] (L = o-C 6 H 4 (PMe 2 ) 2 and o-C 6 H 4 (AsMe 2 ) 2 ) have been investigated, with structures described for [TiCl 4 (o-C 6 H 4 (PMe 2 ) 2 )], [TiCl 4 (o-C 6 H 4 (PMe 2 ) 2 ) 2 ], [TiBr 4 (o-C 6 H 4 (PMe 2 ) 2 ) 2 ],