Rare-earth metal alkyl, amido, and cyclopentadienyl complexes supported by imidazolin-2-iminato ligands: synthesis, structural characterization, and catalytic application.

The rare earth metal dichlorides [(1)MCl(2)(THF)(3)] (2a, M = Sc; 2b, M = Y; 2c, M = Lu) and the gadolinium complex [(1)GdCl(2)(THF)(2)] x [LiCl(THF)(2)] (2d), containing the 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-iminato ligand 1, proved to be versatile starting materials for the preparation of trimethylsilylmethyl ("neosilyl") and bis(trimethylsilyl)amido complexes [(1)M(CH(2)SiMe(3))(2)(THF)(2)] (3a-3d) and [(1)M(HMDS)(2)(THF)] [4a-4d, HMDS = hexamethyldisilazide, N(SiMe(3))(2)] and for the preparation of the benzyl complex [(1)Lu(CH(2)Ph)(2)(THF)(2)] (5c) by the reaction with LiCH(2)SiMe(3), Na[N(SiMe(3))(2)], and KCH(2)Ph, respectively. Treatment of 2a-2c with KCp* afforded the mono(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) complexes [(1)Sc(Cp*)Cl(THF)] (6a), [(1)Y(Cp*)Cl(THF)(2)] (6b), and [(1)Lu(Cp*)Cl(THF)] (6c). In contrast, the gadolinocene complex [(1)Gd(Cp*)(2)(THF)] (7) was isolated from the reaction of 2d with 2 equiv of KCp*. The molecular structures of 3a-3d, 4b.THF, 4d, 5c, 6a, 6c, and 7 x THF were determined by X-ray diffraction analyses, revealing the presence of exceptionally short metal-nitrogen bonds. The neosilyl complexes 3b and 3c showed high catalytic activity in the intramolecular hydroamination of aminoalkenes and aminoalkynes and in the hydrosilylation of 1-hexene and 1-octene with PhSiH(3).