MATRIX-ISOLATION STUDY OF THE 1-1 MOLECULAR-COMPLEXES OF (CH3)3AL WITH GROUP-V AND GROUP-VI BASES

1:1 molecular complexes of trimethylaluminum with group V and VI bases have been isolated, after merged jet codeposition of the precursors, and characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Three of the complexes studied here, (CH3)3Al.P(CH3)3, (CH3)3Al.O(CH3)2 and (CH3)3Al.S(CH3)2, have been seen previously in solid state experiments, while two have not yet been reported ((CH3)3Al.PH3 and (CH3)3Al.OC(CH3)2). Significant shifting of vibrational modes of both the acid and base subunits in the complexes was observed; a reduction in symmetry of the (CH3)3Al from effective D3h to Cs was indicated by the removal of the degeneracy of the E vibrational modes. The yield of product varied dramatically with the different bases employed, probably due to competition with the self-dimerization reaction of (CH3)3Al.