1 species has a Ga-Ga bond length (2.343 (2) Á) which is substantially (0.17 A) shorter than that in its neutral precursor Trip2GaGaTrip2, 2 (Ga-Ga= 2.515 (3) A). These data, combined with the observation of low coupling constants between the unpaired electron and the gallium nuclei, are consistent with the formation of a 1-electron Ga-Ga-bond resulting from the overlap of two Ga 4p-orbitals. This type of reaction can, in principle, be extended to the other heavier main group 3 elements. 2 Gallium was, however, chosen for the initial experiments because it is less electropositive and smaller than the neighboring elements alu-minum and indium. Nonetheless, the work of Uhl and co-workers3-5 has shown that tetraalkyl derivatives (3a-c) of all these elements can be readily isolated. It was decided, therefore