Tris(tetramethylethylenediamine-sodium)-9,9-bianthryl-The Salt of a π Hydrocarbon Radical Trianion with Three Na+ -Cπ Contacts to One Molecular Half.

Quite unexpectedly, all three electrons are taken up by the same anthryl moiety when 9,9'-bianthryl is reduced with an excess of sodium metal. Thanks to the "right" ligand/solvent mixture the first radical trianion salt (depicted on the right) could be isolated. It is a contact-ion quadruple of bianthryl in which all three Na+ counterions coordinate to the same half of the hydrocarbon molecule. © 1998 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Fed. Rep. of Germany.