Steric engineering of C-F activation with lanthanoid formamidinates

Reaction of lanthanum with Hg(C6F5)(2) and bulky N, N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl) formamidine (HDippForm) in tetrahydrofuran gives [LaF{DippForm}(2)(THF)] with a rare terminal Ln-F bond, and a high yield of a novel functionalised formamidine, DippForm((CH2)(4)OC6F4H-o).