Gallium trichloride, GaCl
3, reacts with the in situ prepared sodium salt of an aminoalkoxideor iminoalkoxide, denoted as NaL, to give the disubstituted compounds GaL
2Cl, where L =OC(CF
3)
2CH
2NMe
2 (
1), OC(CF
3)
2CH
2C(Me)=NMe (
2). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studieson
1 and
2 indicated the formation of a trigonal-bipyramidal structure with chloride andalkoxy groups occupying the equatorial sites and the nitrogen donors located at the axialpositions. For the related trimethylgallium reagent GaMe
3, addition of an equal amount ofamino alcohol LH induced the elimination of methane to afford the complexes GaMe
2L, whereL = OC(CF
3)
2CH
2NHMe (
3), OC(CF
3)
2CH
2NHBu
t (
4), OC(CF
3)
2CH
2NMe
2 (
5), in high yields.The crystal structure of
5 was determined by X-ray diffraction, showing a distorted-tetrahedral framework which differs greatly from that observed in the trigonal-bipyramidalGa complexes
1 and
2. Variable-temperature
1H NMR studies on
3 and
4 indicated theoccurrence of rapid N
Ga
bond scission, followed by recoordination with a change of theabsolute configuration. A lower activation barrier was observed for the Bu
t complex
4 uponchanging solvents from CDCl
3 to more polar media such as deuterated toluene and THF.Complexes
1 and
4 were then evaluated as potential precursor molecules for the chemicalvapor deposition of Ga
2O
3, and the as-deposited films were analyzed using scanning electronmicrographs (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Rutherford backscattering(RBS).