On nilpotency of the derived subalgebra of a solvable Lie algebra

  • Condition (i) can be removed, as already observed by Daniel.

  • In positive characteristic you can find a counterexample in the book "J. Humphreys: Introduction to Lie algebras and representation theory" (Chapter 2, Section 4, page 20, Exercise 4), so condition (ii) cannot be relaxed.

  • Finally, let $H={\mathbb F}x+{\mathbb F}y+{\mathbb F}z$ be the Heisenberg algebra with basis $x,y,z$, where $z$ is central in $H$ and $[x,y]=z$. Consider the ring of polynomials ${\mathbb F}[t]$ as a left $H$-module with $x$ acting as $d/dt$, $y$ acting by multiplication by $t$, and $z$ acting as the identity. Now consider the split extension $L=H\ltimes {\mathbb F}[t]$. Then $L$ is solvable of derived length 3, but the derived subalgebra $[L,L]={\mathbb F}z+{\mathbb F}[t]$ is not nilpotent. Thus condition (iii) cannot be removed.