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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Preparation, Purification, and Characterization of Lanthanide Complexes for Use as Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: July 21, 2011
Synthesis of homometallic divalent lanthanide organoimides from benzyl complexes
Benjamin M Wolf1, Christoph Stuhl, Reiner Anwander
1Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 18, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. reiner.anwander@uni-tuebingen.de.
Abstract:
The reaction of LnI2(thf)2 with benzyl potassium affords the homoleptic benzyl complexes [Ln(CH2Ph)2]n of samarium, europium, and ytterbium. In the cases of Eu and Yb, the treatment of [Ln(CH2Ph)2]n with one equivalent of 2,6-diisopropylaniline gives access to tetrameric organoimide complexes [(thf)Ln(μ3-NDipp)]4, representing the first examples of homometallic Ln(ii) imides. This study revealed that the Yb(ii) organoimide chemistry is significantly different from that of calcium.
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