Synthesis and structural characterization of amido scorpionate rare earth metals complexes

The reactivity of hybrid scorpionate/cyclopentadienyl ligands in the form of the protio derivatives as a mixture of two regioisomers, namely bpzcpH [1-{2,2-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)-1,1-diphenylethyl}-1,3-cyclopentadiene and 2-{2,2-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)-1,1-diphenylethyl}-1,3-cyclopentadiene] and bpztcpH [1-{2,2-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)-1-tert-butylethyl}-1,3-cyclopentadiene and 2-{2,2-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)-1-tert-butylethyl}-1,3-cyclopentadiene], with the tris(silylamide) precursors [M{N(SiHMe2)2}3(thf)x] of rare earth metals (including the group 3 metals scandium and yttrium) is related to the atomic radii of the metal centres. The reaction with the precursor containing the smallest ion, [Sc{N(SiHMe2)2}3(thf)], did not proceed even heating at reflux temperature in toluene. The reaction with the precursors that contain a medium-sized metal ion, i.e., [M{N(SiHMe2)2}3(thf)2] (M = Y, Lu), proceeded only at high temperature and gave good yields of the silylenediamide-containing derivatives [M{κ(2)-NN-Me2Si(NSiHMe2)2}(bpzcp)] (M = Y , Lu ) and [M{κ(2)-NN-Me2Si(NSiHMe2)2}(bpztcp)] (M = Y , Lu ) by an double activation of Si-H and Si-N bonds. However, the reaction with the precursors that contained the largest metal ions, i.e., [M{N(SiHMe2)2}3(thf)2] (M = Nd, Sm), proceeded rapidly at room temperature to afford the bis(silylamide) complexes [M{N(SiHMe2)2}2(bpzcp)] (M = Nd , Sm ) and [M{N(SiHMe2)2}2(bpztcp)] (M = Nd , Sm ). Additionally, the alkyl heteroscorpionate yttrium and lutetium complexes [M(CH2SiMe3)2(NNCp)] (M = Y, Lu) reacted with an excess of HN(SiHMe2)2 to give the mixed alkyl/amide derivatives [M{N(SiHMe2)2}(CH2SiMe3)(bpzcp)] (M = Y , Lu ) and [M{N(SiHMe2)2}(CH2SiMe3)(bpztcp)] (M = Y , Lu ). The structures of the complexes were determined by spectroscopic methods and the X-ray crystal structures of , and were also established.