Nitrogen lithium-ethylene complexes

It is clear from these experiments that the presence of ethylene catalyses the fixation of nitrogen in lithium complexes. This assisted complexation was also observed with methyl-substituted ethylene and butadiene. It is a characteristic property of lithium-alkene complexes, as experiments performed with other lithium complexes have so far not yielded such ternary complexes. If one can easily anticipate that the fractional positive charge on the lithium in LiC2H4 and Li(C2H4)2 facilitates the coordination of N2 with, presumably, a a-donation to lithium, and possibly, to a weaker extent, p-donation from the metal, it is difficult to rationalize why LiC2H2 and LiC2H4 behave so differently with respect to nitrogen, for instance. 

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