Half-Sandwich Indenyl Rare Earth Metal Dialkyl Complexes: Syntheses, Structures, and Catalytic Activities of (1,3-(SiMe3)2C9H5)Ln(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)

Reactions of 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyl)indene with Ln(CH2SiMe3)(3)(THF)(2) gave half-sandwich rare earth metal complexes (1,3-(SiMe3)(2)C9H5)Ln(CH2SiMe3)(2)(THF) (Ln = Y, Lu, Dy). These complexes were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which showed the eta(5) hapticity of indenyl ligands in all of the complexes. The catalytic behaviors of the complexes for intramolecular hydroamination of aminoalkenes were investigated. The catalytic activity increased with increasing the metal ion size. and the Y and Dy complexes showed excellent activities to a variety aminoalkenes.