Synthesis and Characterization of Cp*Be-F-Al(ORF)3

The reaction of Ag[Al(ORF)(4)] [R-F = C(CF3)(3)] with Cp*Be-Br was investigated. With the less basic CH2Cl2 as solvent, redox chemistry prevailed, elemental silver and the pentamethylcyclopentenyl cation (Cp*H-2(+)) formed. However, upon changing to the more -basic solvents fluorobenzene and o-difluorobenzene, the silver metathesis reaction went smooth and produced intermediately the [Cp*Be](+) cation and AgBr. However, the very strong Lewis acid [Cp*Be](+) activated one of the 36 equivalent C-F bonds of the [Al(ORF)(4)](-) anion and finally formed two stable crystalline compounds containing the Cp*Be-F-Al(ORF)(3) molecule, which includes a [F-Al(ORF)(3)](-) anion coordinated to the [Cp*Be](+) cation. Cp*Be-F-Al(ORF)(3) nevertheless includes some potential to provide [Cp*Be](+) in polar solution. Its potential neutral or ionic fission was investigated by DFT calculations.