The four ternary gallium(III) chalcogenide halides GaEX with E = S, Se and X = Cl, Br can be prepared a) from the binary gallium(III) chalcogenides Ga2E3 and halides Ga2X6, b) from gallium(I) tetrahalogallates(III) GafGaX4] and the chalcogen E, and c) from gallium metal and the dichalcogen dihalides E2X2. The new method c) was shown to be the most convenient preparation. The products are readily soluble in pyridine to give trinuclear molecular complexes [GaEX·Py]3 which are not volatile without decomposition, but can be purified by crystallization. The structures have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. The two chlorides are isostructural and show twisted tub-form six-membered ring molecules with the pyridine donors in axial positions. The two bromides are also isostructural, but with the pyridine ligands in two axial and one equatorial positions
Panagrolaimus superbus tolerates hypoxia within Gallium metal cage: implications for the understanding of the phenomenon of anhydrobiosis
