Abstract
THE existence of the dimer aluminium trimethyl has aroused considerable interest. Electron diffraction determinations1,2 are in satisfactory agreement with an ethane structure (I). However, this structure is for many reasons most unlikely: (1) it should differ from the bridge structures of the related aluminium halides3 Al2X6, aluminium dimethyl-halides2 Al2Me4X2 as well as of the boron and probably aluminium hydrides4; (2) it cannot be accounted for by any existing valence theory; no forces are available for joining the two AlMe3 molecules; (3) it requires a shorter interatomic distance (about 2·20 A.) between the equally charged Al atoms than that of a covalent Al–Al linkage (>2·48 A.); (4) the instability (non-existence) of a dimer boron trimethyl cannot be explained.
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References
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BURAWOY, A. Structure of Aluminium Trimethyl. Nature 155, 269 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155269a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155269a0
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Aluminium Trimethyl
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