The First PE‐Spectroscopic Investigations of Lithium, Sodium, and Potassium tert‐Butoxide

It is alway profitable to try and find out more about classical reagents in organic synthesis. The readily sublimable tert ‐butoxides of lithium, sodium and potassium have therefore been investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy at 150–180°C in the gaseous state, in which they are present as oligomeric aggregates. According to MNDO calculations the degeneracy of the HOMO of monomeric LiOC(CH 3 ) 3 is lifted during transition to the dimes and hexamer, as is also demonstrated in the PE spectrum of the lithium tert ‐butoxide vapor consisting of hexamers.