Syntheses and X-ray structures of some pyrrolylaldiminate metal complexes

Several pyrrolylaldiminate complexes of Group 1, 4 and 13 metals are reported. The reaction of 5-tert-butyl-2-[(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)aldimino]pyrrole (HL) with NaH produced LNa(THF) (1). In situ lithiation of HL followed by addition of one equivalent of MClx (M=Zr, x=4; M=Hf, x=4, M=Al, x=3) afforded the corresponding pyrrolylaldiminate complexes, MLCl2(μ-Cl)2Li(OEt2)2 (M=Zr, 3; Hf, 4) and AlLCl2 (5). Alkylation of 5 with MeMgBr generated AlLMe2 (6). In addition to the spectroscopic data, complexes 3–6 were characterized by X-ray crystallography.