Atom-economic access to cationic magnesium complexes.

Cationic alkaline-earth complexes attract interest for their enhanced Lewis acidity and reactivity compared with their neutral counterparts. Synthetic protocols to these complexes generally utilize expensive specialized reagents in reactions generating multiple by-products. We have studied a simple ligand transfer approach to these complexes using (NacNac)MgR and ER (NacNac = β-diketiminate anion; E = group 13 element; R = aryl/amido anion) which demonstrates high atom economy, opening up the ability to target these species in a more sustainable manner.