Crystal and molecular structure of phenyl(triphenylsilyl)diazomethane

Crystals of the title compound are orthorhombic, space group Pbca, a= 26·19(5), b= 9·17(2), c= 16·70(3)Å, Z= 8. The molecule is monomeric, with an essentially linear C–N–N unit and planar CC(N2)Si skeleton. Principal bond lengths and angles are : N–N 1·130(16), N–C 1·280(17), mean Si–C 1·865, mean C–C(aromatic) 1·373, and C–C(exocyclic) 1·468(19)Å; Si–C(N2)–C 125·7(8), Si–C–N 115·3(1·0), and C–C–N 118·8(1·2)°. The structure was determined from photographic data, and refined by full-matrix least-squares methods to R 0·117 for 1380 unique reflections. Unit-cell data for the germanium analogue show it to be isostructural.