Luminescence Phenomena and Solid-State Structures of Trimethyl- and Triethylgallium

Small flashes (b) occur during the freezing of triethylgallium samples in liquid nitrogen, and on warming from −196°C this is accompanied by decomposition (a). This effect was observed during the determination of the crystal structures of GaMe3 and GaEt3, which both show intermolecular interactions between their electron-deficient gallium atoms and the alkyl groups of neighboring molecules.