Isoelectronic Aluminium Analogues of Carbonyl and Dioxirane Moieties

We report the anion [Al(NONAr)(Se)](-) (NONAr=[O(SiMe2NAr)(2)](2-), Ar=2,6-iPr(2)C(6)H(3)), which is an isoelectronic Group 13 metal analogue of the carbonyl group containing an aluminium-selenium multiple bond. It was synthesized in a single step from the reaction of the aluminyl anion [Al(NONAr)](-) with elemental selenium. Spectroscopic, crystallographic, and computational analysis confirmed multiple bonding between aluminium and selenium. Addition of a second equivalent of selenium afforded the diselenirane, [Al(NONAr)(kappa(2)-Se-2)](-), which is an isoelectronic analogue of the dioxirane group.