Structural Study of Mismatched Disila-Crown Ether Complexes

Mismatched complexes of the alkali metals cations Li+ and Na+ were synthesized from 1,2-disila[18]crown-6 (1 and 2) and of K+ from 1,2,4,5-tetrasila[18]crown-6 (4). In these alkali metal complexes, not all crown ether O atoms participate in the coordination, which depicts the coordination ability of the C-, Si/C-, and Si-bonded O atoms. Furthermore, the inverse case—the coordination of the large Ba2+ ion by the relatively small ligand 1,2-disila[15]crown-5—was investigated, yielding the dinuclear complex 5. This structure represents a first outlook on sandwich complexes based on hybrid crown ethers.