It is capable of forming tetramers and hexamers of lithium bound to 4 or 6 ligands respectively. These shapes are two examples of platonic solids, which Plato predicted to be the building blocks of matter.
n-butyllithium
An organometallic compound, n-butyllithium is an interesting compound.
It is capable of forming tetramers and hexamers of lithium bound to 4 or 6 ligands respectively. These shapes are two examples of platonic solids, which Plato predicted to be the building blocks of matter.
Each face of the compound shares one total negative charge with the butyl group. That means that each vertex of the triangle, eahc lithium atom, is sharing 1/3 of an electron. This bonding is *covalent* organometallic. Do not mistake it for ionic bonding due to the nontraditional structure of the molecule. That is probably the most fascinating part about these compounds. They are heavily reactive and explode on contact with water. They also cause severe burns to skin and are extremely toxic.
It is capable of forming tetramers and hexamers of lithium bound to 4 or 6 ligands respectively. These shapes are two examples of platonic solids, which Plato predicted to be the building blocks of matter.