A new weakly coordinating aluminate anion incorporating a chelating perfluoro-bis-anilido ligand.

The synthesis of the fully fluorinated bis-anilido ligand N,N'-bis-pentafluorophenyl-3,4,5,6-tetrafluorophenylene-1,2-diamine, 1 is described. Reaction of one or two equivalents of 1 with AlMe(3) gives aluminium compounds incorporating one or two ligands, the latter being the protonated form of a new weakly coordinating anion (WCA), 3-H. Alternatively, reaction of 1 with LiAlH(4) yields the lithium salt of this anion, 3-Li, which may be employed as a reagent for preparing the trityl and N,N-dimethylanilinium salts of the aluminate anion. All ion pairs are fully characterized and the use of 3-Ph(3)C to generate titanium-based alkyl cations is also described.