Crystal structure and quantum-chemical calculations of a tri-methyl-aluminium-THF adduct

The title compound, trimeth-yl(tetra-hydro-furan-κO)aluminium(III), [Al(CH₃)₃(C₄H₈O)], is an addition product of tri-methyl-aluminium and tetra-hydro-furan (THF). Instead of a dimeric structure, which is very common for these types of compounds, a monomeric mol-ecular structure is observed. The C-Al-C angles in the mol-ecule are very different from the C-Al-C angles found in dimeric mol-ecular structures, leading to a different symmetry around the Al^III atom. The reasons for these differences are discussed.