Isolation of a germanium(II) cation and a germylene iron carbonyl complex utilizing an imidazolin-2-iminato ligand.

The novel amino(imino)germylene 1 was prepared by the conversion of HNIPr (NIPr = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-imino) with 1 equiv. of Ge[N(SiMe3)2]2. Germylene 1 reacts with B(C6F5)3 to afford the borate salt 2(+)[MeB(C6F5)3](-) in a methyl-abstraction and ring-closing reaction. The conversion of 2 with Fe2(CO)9 furnishes the germylene iron carbonyl complex 3 with a trigonal planar-coordinate germanium atom.