Zirconium acetylacetonate
Zirconium acetylacetonate is the coordination complex with the formula Zr4. It is a common acetylacetonate of zirconium. It is a white solid that exhibits high solubility in nonpolar organic solvents, but not simple hydrocarbons.
The complex is prepared by treating zirconium oxychloride with acetylacetone:
The complex has a square antiprismatic geometry with eight nearly equivalent Zr-O bonds of length 2.19 Å. The molecular symmetry is D2, i.e. the complex is chiral. Compounds of high coordination number tend to be stereochemically nonrigid as indicated by the observation of one methyl signal by proton NMR spectroscopy.
More volatile than Zr4 is the related complex of 1,1,1-trifluoroacetylacetonate.
