The synthesis and structural characterization
of Ae(TpiPr2)2 (Ae = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba; TpiPr2 = hydrido-tris(3,5-diisopropyl-pyrazol-1-yl)borate)
are reported. In the crystalline state, the alkaline earth metal centers
are six-coordinate, even the small Mg2+ ion, with two κ3-N,N′,N′′-Tp
iPr2 ligands, disposed
in a bent arrangement (B···Ae···B <
180°). However, contrary to the analogous Ln(TpiPr2)2 (Ln = Sm, Eu, Tm, Yb) compounds, which all exhibit
a bent-metallocene structure close to C
s
symmetry, the Ae(TpiPr2)2 compounds
exhibit a greater structural variation. The smallest Mg(TpiPr2)2 has crystallographically imposed C
2 symmetry, requiring both bending and twisting of the
two Tp
iPr2 ligands, while with the similarly
sized Ca2+ and Sr2+, the structures are back
toward the bent-metallocene C
s
symmetry. Despite the structural variations, the B···M···B
bending angle follows a linear size-dependence for all divalent metal
ions going from Mg2+ to Sm2+, decreasing with
increasing metal ion size. The complex of the largest metal ion, Ba2+, forms an almost linear structure, B···Ba···B
167.5°. However, the “linearity” is not due to
the compound approaching the linear metallocene-like geometry, but
is the result of the pyrazolyl groups significantly tipping toward
the metal center, approaching “side-on” coordination.
An attempt to rationalize the observed structural variations is made.