Chemistry of silylated rare earths and heavier f-elements: ready to enter the next stage

Abstract

The last few years have witnessed exciting development in the chemistry of silylated rare earths and heavier f-elements. First examples of silylated lanthanum (La) and praseodymium (Pr) complexes have been reported so that currently out of all lanthanides only for the radioactive promethium (Pm) silylated complexes are unknown. Previously unknown U(III) silyl complexes have also been described. Spectacular examples of the elusive trisilylated complexes of lanthanides and actinides have been presented. These show unusual magnetic properties, making them susceptible to facile ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopic characterization, which could be rather difficult for compounds with diminished silylation degree. Novel silylene complexes were shown to catalyze hydrosilylation reactions. The novel compound class of silole coordinated f-element complexes was introduced by La and erbium (Er) complexes with the latter exhibiting single molecule magnetic properties.