Sodium tert-butoxide (or sodium t-butoxide) is a chemical compound with the formula (CH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>3</sub>CONa (abbr. NaOtBu). It is a strong, non-nucleophilic base. It is flammable and moisture sensitive. It is sometimes written in the chemical literature as sodium t-butoxide. It is similar in reactivity to the more common potassium tert-butoxide.
The compound can be produced by treating tert-butyl alcohol with sodium hydride.
One application for sodium tert-butoxide is as a non-nucleophilic base. It has been widely used in the BuchwaldâÂÂHartwig amination, as in this typical example:
Sodium tert-butoxide is used to prepare tert-butoxide complexes. For example hexa(tert-butoxy)ditungsten(III) is thus obtained by the salt metathesis reaction from a ditungsten heptachloride:
Sodium tert-butoxide forms clusters in the solid state, both hexamers and nonamers.