In the last decade a major theme of organometallic chemistry has been the design and development of alternative ligand systems capable of stabilizing monomeric metal complexes while provoking novel reactivity. Exploration of this field is driven by the potential use of these complexes in catalysis and organic synthesis. Examples of monoanionic chelating Ndonor ligands that have received much recent attention (Scheme 1) include the b-diketiminate (I) [1] and the amidinate (II) [2] ligand systems. Much less attention has been given to the closely related triazenides (III). [3, 4] This may be attributed to the lack of suitable ligands that are sterically crowded enough to prevent undesirable ligand redistribution reactions and allow better control of the electronic and steric properties at the metal center.Triazenides are weaker donors than the isoelectronic amidinates and the related b-diketiminates, and should induce greater electrophilicity at a bonded metal atom. [5] This is reflected by the results of an NBO (natural bond orbitals) analysis of the energy-minimized structures [6] of the model anions 1,3-diphenyl-1,3-diketiminate (I M ), 1,3-diphenyl-1,3-diazaallyl (II M ), and 1,3-diphenyltriazenide (III M ) (see Supporting Information), which shows an NPA (natural population analysis) charge for the chelating N atoms of À0.54, À0.60, and À0.38, respectively.We recently succeeded in the preparation of aryl-substituted, sterically crowded triazenes. Ligands of this type may be synthesized in excellent yields by the reaction of different substituted 2-lithiobiphenyls with the m-terphenyl azide 1, followed by hydrolysis (Scheme 2).In a first attempt to test their properties, we have used the obtained triazenes to stabilize pentafluorophenyl compounds of the heavier alkaline-earth metals calcium, strontium, and barium. The heteroleptic pentafluorophenyl triazenides are accessible in tetrahydrofuran as solvent by a convenient onepot transmetalation/deprotonation [7] reaction from the triazene 2 a (HN 3 ArAr'), bis(pentafluorophenyl)mercury, and the corresponding alkaline-earth metal (Scheme 3). After crystallization from n-heptane, either the THF-free compounds [M(C 6 F 5 )(N 3 ArAr')] (M = Sr (4), Ba (5)) or the solvate [Ca(C 6 F 5 )(N 3 ArAr')(thf)] (3) were isolated in good yields. It is remarkable that attempts to replace the pentafluorophenyl substituents by a second triazenide ligand have not been successful so far. Apparently, the steric bulk of the latter prevents further substitution or ligand redistribution and therefore formation of the homoleptic complexes. [8] Solutions of 4 or 5 in aromatic or aliphatic solvents show considerable thermal stability and can be stored at ambient