Perspectives in reductive lanthanide chemistry

For several decades the reductive chemistry of the lanthanide metals in soluble, fully characterized molecular species has focused primarily on just three elements: europium, ytterbium, and samarium. Recent developments suggest that the reductive chemistry of the lanthanides is likely to expand greatly beyond these three elements in the new millennium and will be a major area of advancement in lanthanide inorganic, organometallic, and coordination chemistry. This paper previews some possibilities in this held. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.