The expansion of divalent organolanthanide reduction chemistry via new molecular divalent complexes and sterically induced reduction reactivity of trivalent complexes

For over 20 years, the reductive chemistry of organometallic Sm(II) complexes has provided an efficient approach to new types of organolanthanide chemistry. Although many advances have been made via Sm(II), it has never been possible to optimize the chemistry on the basis of metal size as is commonly done with trivalent lanthanides. However, recent results have presented opportunities to expand reductive Sm(II)-type reactivity to all of the lanthanides. This review summarizes recent progress from our laboratory on this topic. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.