INTRODUCTION

The beginnings of the non-transition metal organometallic chemistry can be traced to the synthesis of zinc alkyls by Frankland in 1848 which was followed a few decades later by Grignards synthesis and exploitation of orgnaomagnesium halides in organic synthesis(in 1912 Noble Prize was awarded to Grignard).Besides structural and other features , a wide and in fact fastly growing interest in organometallic compounds of Post transition metal is sustained by their established and potential applications as reagents(e.g. organometallics of aluminum, thallium and tin etc.) in organic and organometallic synthesis. T.Midgley and T.A Boyd describe the anti-knocking behavior of Pb(C5H5)4 in 1922.[1] Compounds of the elements in the three triads of post-transition metals, GaInTl, GeSnPb, and AsSbBi, form in their low-valence states a variety of stable complexes with neutral hydrocarbons. This chemistry is reviewed starting from the early discoveries in the 19th century and including the most recent contributions.[3]

SOME ORGANOMETALLIC COMPOUNDS OF POSTTRANSITION METALS 1. Organoaluminum Compounds:

The first organoaluminium compound Et3Al2I3 was discovered in 1859. Organoaluminium compounds generally feature three- and four-coordinate Al centers. In accord with the octet rule, Al prefers to be tetrahedral. The triorganoaluminium compounds are usually dimeric with a pair of bridging alkyl ligands. The degree of association of aluminium alkyls ,in hydrocarbon solvents decreases in the sequence R=Me > Et > Pt i >Bu t .The simplest example of organoaluminium compounds is Al2(CH3)6 having following structure .[1]

H3C 2.14 A Al 1.97 A0 H3C

CH3 2.60 AO

CH3

Al

CH3

CH3

2. Organogallium Compounds:
Compounds of the type R3Ga are monomeric. Lewis acidity decreases in the order Al > Ga > In and as a result organogallium compound do not form bridged dimers as organoaluminum compounds do. Organogallium compounds are also less reactive then organoaluminum compounds.[2]Despite their high toxicity organogallium compounds have some use in organic synthesis.Some examples are given below. Ga(CH3)3

An other example is of Ga2Cl4 (C6H8)(C18H30) .[3]

3. Organometallic Compounds Of Lead And Tin:

The first organolead was hexaethyldilead synthesised in 1858.[4]Lead is tetravalent. Going down the carbon group the CX (X = C, Si. Ge, Sn, Pb) bond becomes weaker and the bond length larger. The CPb bond in tetramethyllead is 222 pm long with a dissociation energy of 204 kcal/mol (854 kJ/mol). Structure Of tetramethylead
2

The dominance of Pb(IV) in organolead chemistry is remarkable because inorganic lead compounds tend to have Pb(II) centers. For comparison the CSn bond in tetramethyltin is 214 pm long with dissociation energy 297 kcal/mol (1.24 MJ/mol). [5]

The first organotin compound was diethyltin diiodide, discovered by Edward Frankland in 1849. An organotin compound is commercially applied as a hydrochloric acid scavenger (or heat stabilizer) in polyvinyl chloride and as a biocide. Tributyltin oxide has been extensively used as a wood preservative. Tributyltin compounds are used as marine anti-biofouling agents.[6] Structures of some other organotin compounds are given below.

1.Triphenyltin acetate, an off-white crystalline solid, used as an insecticide and a fungicide

2.Tributyltin oxide, a colorless to pale yellow liquid used in wood preservation

REFERENCES
1. R.C.Mehrotra , D.Singh,2000,Organometallic Chemistry,Second edition,27,28,33. 2. Ryo Amemiya and Masahiko Yamaguchi Eur., 2005,GaCl3 in Organic Synthesis ,J. Org. Chem., 51455150.

3. Hubert Schmidbaur and Annette Schier, 2008,-Complexation of Post-Transition Metals by Neutral Aromatic Hydrocarbons: The Road from Observations in the 19th Century to New Aspects of Supramolecular Chem., Organometallics, 27 (11), 2361 2395.

4. Yamamoto,Hisashi / Oshima, Koichiro (eds.), 2004, Main Group Metals in Organic Synthesis.

5. Sanshiro Komiya Ed. 1997, Synthesis of Organometallic Compounds, A Practical Guide.

6. Gajda, M.; Jancso, A., 2010, "Organotins, formation, use, speciation and toxicology". Metal ions in life sciences (Cambridge: RSC publishing) 7, Organometallics in environment and toxicology.