Simplifying metal-'ate' chemistry: formation and comprehensive characterisation of a homo-metallic amido lithiate complex.

Addition of TMEDA to lithium allyl-1-naphthylamide in a 1 : 1 ratio afforded the novel amido lithium/lithiate complex, [Li(TMEDA)2][Li{N(1-naph)(CH2CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH2)}2]. (7)Li NMR and computational calculations indicate this model to be representative of the solution state, with (1)H and (13)C NMR showing a 1,3-sigmatropic rearrangement. [Li{N(1-naph)(CH2CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH2)}·Et2O]2, and [Li{N(1-naph) (CH2CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH2)}·PMDETA] , are presented for comparison.