Lanthanides in organic chemistry

It is a commonplace to say that there has been explosive growth in the use of lanthanides in organic chemistry. For many years, the use of cerium(iv) compounds as oxidants was widespread, but more recently a whole range of other compounds have made their appearance. Thus samarium(ii) compounds are now routinely used as one-electron reducing agents and the use of trifluoromethanesulfonate ( triflate ) salts of scandium and the lanthanides as water-soluble Lewis acid catalysts is widespread. Beta-diketonate complexes and alkoxides have also come into use there are even applications of mischmetal in organic synthesis. 

Luche JL (1978) Lanthanides in Organic Chemistry. 1. Selective 1,2-Reductions of Conjugated Ketones. J Am Chem Soc 100 2226... 

The Lanthanides and Scandium in Organic Chemistry Further Reading... 

One of the most important goals in organic chemistry is the formation of C-C bonds. This field has advanced rapidly due to the introduction of transition metal catalysts. Engberts and co-workers [18] observed an extraordinary rate enhancement (up to 1.8 10 fold) in the Diels-Alder reaction between 3-(/7ara-substituted phenyl)-l-(2-pyridyl)-2-propen-l-ones and cyclopentadiene in presence of cop-per(II) or zinc(II) dodecylsulfate micelles. The lanthanide-catalyzed aldol reaction described by Kobayashi and Manabe [19] is also important as a typical method in... 

Lanthanides Chemistry and Use in Organic Volume Editor S. Kobayashi... 

Kobayashi S (1999) Lanthanide triflate-catalyzed carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions in organic synthesis. In Kobayashi S (ed) Topics in organometallic chemistry, vol 2, Lanthanides chemistry and use in organic synthesis. Springer, Heidelberg... 

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