Role of London Dispersion Interactions in Ga-Substituted Dipnictenes

We report the synthesis and structural characterization of Ga-substituted diarsene [L(EtO)GaAs]₂, which is an exemplary case of a Ga-substituted dipnictene of the general type [L(X)Ga]₂E₂ (L = C[C(Me)N(2,6-i-Pr₂-C₆H₃)]₂, X = F, Cl, Br, I, NMe₂, OEt; E = As, Sb, Bi). We examined this extended series of compounds computationally and found that attractive London dispersion interactions between the substituents on the N,N′-chelating β-diketiminate ligands as well as pnictogen-π interactions between the group 15 metal center and the ligand are key factors for the stability and the electronic structures of such types of complexes.