Methylgallium and methylindium: the first sighting of the simplest organic derivatives of Ga(I) and In(I)

Gallium or indium atoms are shown to react with methane in solid Ar matrices upon UV photolysis (lambda = 200-400 nm) to give initially the methylmetal hydride which undergoes photodissociation on broad-band irradiation (lambda = 200-800 nm) to yield the methylmetal(I) compound, CH3M (M = Ga or In); the products are characterised by their IR spectra afforced by the results of DFT calculations.