TERMINAL NITRIDO AND IMIDO COMPLEXES OF THE LATE TRANSITION METALS

Compounds that contain a late transition metal-nitrogen multiple bond represent important reactive intermediate species in many useful organic and inorganic transformations. In order to understand the role that these intermediates play in reactions, it is important to have a full understanding of their electronic structure. This paper reviews the known structural motifs that occur in late transition metal nitrido and imido compounds, and provides a correlation between geometric structure and electronic structure. Also, intermediate species that have been postulated but not yet isolated are discussed, as these compounds represent exciting targets for further efforts in synthetic inorganic chemistry.