Vanadium(III) complexes incorporating the silylamino(disilylamido) ligand [(Me3Si)N{CH2CH2N(SiMe3)} 2]2- [N{N¿}2]2-. Synthesis and crystal structure of the dimeric, non-metallocene vanadium(III) hydride [{V(N{N¿}2)}2(µ-H)2]

Three vanadium(III) complexes incorporating the chelating silylamino(disilylamido) ligand [(Me3Si)N{CH2CH2N-(SiMe3)} 2]2- ([N{N¿}2]2-) have been reported. Addition of Li2[N{N¿}2] to VCl3THF cleanly yielded the vanadium(III) chloride [{V(N{N¿}2)Cl}2] 1, from which the vanadium(III) hydrocarbyl [V(N{N¿}2){CH(SiMe3)2}] 2 could be generated by means of salt metathesis. Hydrogenolysis of 2 under dihydrogen produced the thermally stable, dimeric vanadium(III) hydride [{V(N{N¿}2)}2(µ-H)2] 3. The solid state structure of 3 was determined. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 1999.