Rare-earth metal catalysts for alkene hydrosilylation

Rare-earth metal catalyzed hydrosilylation of alkenes has emerged as a powerful and selective strategy for the synthesis of organosilanes. This transformation can offer distinctive catalytic sequences and reaction patterns from other catalysts because of the high electropositivity and lack of oxidative-addition process of rare-earth metal. This review summarizes the rare-earth metal catalysts for hydrosilylation of alkene according to the type of ligands. The synthesis and structure of rare-earth metal catalysts, the substrate scope as well as some preliminary structure-activity relationship and mechanism are discussed.