Lanthanides in Organic Synthesis

The number of applications of the lanthanides in organic synthesis is quite restricted this year for reasons that are not apparent. Nevertheless a few key experiments have been reported. 

The synthetic utihty of the cationic lanthanide complex [Cp 2Ce][BPh4] as a Lewis acid catalyst, effective with as little as 0.1% loading, for the Diels Alder reaction between Danishefsky s diene and aromatic aldehydes has been demon-strated. s-Caprolactone can be prepared by H2O2 oxidation of cyclohexanone in the presence of catalysts of the type Ln[(02SR) X] (R = perfluoroalkyl n, X = 1,0 2, N 3, Reaction of oxime esters with MejSiCN under the influence of a catalytic amount of La(OPr )3 was found to produce ot-trimethylsilyl oxy-dinitrile derivatives in good yields.  

---

Imamoto, T. Lanthanides in Organic Synthesis, Katritzky, A. R., Meth-Cohn, O., Rees, C. W., eds. Academic Press London, 1994. 

Imamoto, I, Lanthanides in Organic Synthesis, Best Synthetic Methods, Academic Press, 1994. 

W. B. Motherwell and D. Crich, Free Radical Chain Reactions in Organic Synthesis, 1991 N. Petragnani, Tellurium in Organic Synthesis, 1994 T. Imamoto, Lanthanides in Organic Synthesis. 1994... 

Imamoto, T. Lanthanides in Organic Synthesis 1994, Academic Press New York. 

Molander, G. A., Etter, J. B. Lanthanides in organic synthesis. Synthesis of bicyclic alcohols. Tetrahedron Lett. 1984, 25, 3281-3284. 

Imamoto T (1994) Lanthanides in organic synthesis. Academic Press, London... 

J.R. Long, Lanthanides in Organic Synthesis, Aldrichimica Acta. 1985, 18, 87. 

The use of f-elements in organic synthesis will be organized arbitrarly according to the oxidation state First will be considered the metals, and then the divalent trivalent and tetravalent compounds Only two reviews deal with the use of lanthanides in organic synthesis (9,10) See also in ref 6 ... 

Imamoto, T. (1994). Lanthanide in Organic Synthesis, Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Company, Publishers, New York. 

Within a year of Uemura s survey, however, the chemical literature witnessed at least two major reviews (Imamoto et al., 1984a Natale, 1983) as well as a cascade of research articles that described new and surprising uses for lanthanides in organic synthesis. A review article on organolanthanoid complexes by Schumann (1984) speculated on the potential of such complexes in catalysis and organic synthesis, and complemented a recent chapta in this Handbook (Schumann and Genthe, 1984). 

Relevant material on thorium is contained in articles on C-H activation and lanthanides in organic synthesis. Two mechanisms for H-H and C-H bond activations at d metal centres, in particular... 

---