An unsaturated amido-substituted six-vertex germanium cluster and its reactions with alkenes and alkynes

The unsaturated metalloid germanium cluster Ge-6{N(SiMe3)Dipp}(4) 2 with two ligand-free germanium atoms and only four amine substituents was obtained starting from the base-coordinated germylene {N(SiMe3)Dipp}GeCl.DMAP 1 in 50% yield (DMAP = 4-(dimethylamino)-pyridine). This cluster reacts as a masked digermyne in cycloadditions with ethylene, diphenylacetylene and 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene in toluene at 100 degrees C to yield 3-5.