Herein we present
the synthesis and coordination chemistry of the partially silicon
based crown ether analogues 1,2,4,5-tetrasila-benzo[15]crown-5 (1) and 1,2,4,5-tetrasila[18]crown-6 (7). Stable
complexes of alkali and alkaline earth metal iodides could be obtained
showing the good coordination ability of these ligands. The complexes
[M
A
(1,2,4,5-tetrasila-benzo[15]crown-5)I]
(M
A
= Li+ (2),
Na+ (4)) and [M
EA
(1,2,4,5-tetrasila-benzo[15]crown-5)I2] (M
EA
= Mg2+ (3), Ca2+ (5), Sr2+ (6)) were obtained
by equimolar reaction of 1 with the respective alkali
or alkaline earth metal iodide. Depending on the ionic radii of the
respective cations, the coordination modes of the siloxane backbone
are significantly different and could be well-represented by means
of 29Si NMR spectroscopy. In addition, we were able to
generate the unusual dinuclear complex [Ba2(1,2,4,5-tetrasila[18]crown-6)2I4] (8) by reaction of 7 with BaI2. All compounds were characterized via single
crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis.