Dimethylcadmium is the organocadmium compound with the formula . It is a colorless, highly toxic liquid that fumes in air. It is a linear molecule with C-Cd bond lengths of 213 pm. The compound finds limited use as a reagent in

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a branch of chemical synthesis concerned with the construction of organic compounds. Organic compounds are molecules consisting of combinations of covalently-linked hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms. Within the gen ...

and in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It has also been used in the synthesis of cadmium selenide nanoparticles, although efforts have been made to replace it in this capacity due to its toxicity. Dimethylcadmium is prepared by treating cadmium dihalides with methyl

Grignard reagent Grignard reagents or Grignard compounds are chemical compounds with the general formula , where X is a halogen and R is an organic group, normally an alkyl or aryl. Two typical examples are methylmagnesium chloride and phenylmagnesium bromi ...

s or

methyllithium Methyllithium is the simplest organolithium reagent, with the empirical formula LiCH3. This s-block organometallic compound adopts an oligomeric structure both in solution and in the solid state. This highly reactive compound, invariably used i ...

. : The same method was used in the first preparation of this compound. Dimethylcadmium is a weak

Lewis acid A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any ...

, forming a labile adduct with

diethyl ether Diethyl ether, or simply ether, is an organic compound with the chemical formula , sometimes abbreviated as . It is a colourless, highly Volatility (chemistry), volatile, sweet-smelling ("ethereal odour"), extremely flammable liquid. It belongs ...

. A yellow, air-sensitive adduct is formed with 2,2'-bipyridine.

References

{{authority control Cadmium compounds Neurotoxins Foul-smelling chemicals Methyl complexes Substances discovered in the 1910s Pyrophoric materials Methyl compounds