Atom-economic access to cationic magnesium complexes

Cationic alkaline-earth complexes attract interest for their enhanced Lewis acidity and reactivity compared with their neutral counterparts. Synthetic protocols to these complexes generally utilize expensive specialized reagents in reactions generating multiple by-products. We have studied a simple ligand transfer approach to these complexes using (NacNac)MgR and ER₃ (NacNac = β-diketiminate anion; E = group 13 element; R = aryl/amido anion) which demonstrates high atom economy, opening up the ability to target these species in a more sustainable manner. The success of this methodology is dependent on the identity of the group 13 element with the heavier elements facilitating faster ligand exchange. Furthermore, while this reaction is successful with aromatic ligands such as phenyl and pyrrolyl, the secondary amide piperidide (pip) fails to transfer, which we attribute to the stronger 3-centre-4-electron dimerization interaction of Al₂(pip)₆.