Synthesis and characterization of novel hydrodigermenide and digermyne radical anion

The reaction of pentabromodigermane bearing an extremely bulky substituent, Tbb group (Tbb = 4-t-butyl-2,6-bis[bis(trimethylsilyl)methyl]phenyl), with 6 equivalents of KC8 resulted in the formation of the first example of a hydrodigermenide, Tbb(H)Ge=Ge(K)Tbb. In addition, the reduction of digermyne, TbbGe equivalent to GeTbb, with 1 equivalent of KC8 gave the corresponding digermyne radical anion, together with a hydrodigermenide mentioned above. Their spectral data (NMR/EPR and UV/vis spectra) as well as the results of the X-ray crystallographic analyses are reported.