Stoichiometry gives H = , formally F plus two LiTMP units. A compatible ring connectivity is , closed through a lithium–phenyl interaction. The TMP attached to copper, N, remains chemically distinct; N and N belong to the more labile lithium-amide part.
Reversible detachment and reattachment of a symmetric segment can exchange its two amides and reassign which Li occupies the phenyl-contacting or nitrogen-bridging positions. It can therefore exchange all three Li sites and the two Li-associated TMP groups while retaining the Cu-bound TMP group. Fast TMP-ring conformational inversion can further average methyl environments without exchanging entire ligands. These are different kinds of motion; simple ring inversion alone cannot explain exchange of the lithium sites. Such a dissociative interpretation is consistent with the experimentally studied lithium-rich aggregate, but the exchange pattern does not determine a unique transition state or prove that every bond breaks in one concerted event.
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