Silyl amide type ligands

Rare Earth Complexes with Silyl Amide Type Ligands... 

The silyl amide type ligands have been used extensively in rare earth chemistry, as well as in actinide and transition metal chemistry, to stabilize electronically unsaturated metal centers due to the available lone pair on the nitrogen donor atom. Because of the relatively larger steric encumbrance, the rare earth complexes with silyl amide type ligands often exhibit low coordination numbers. As a consequence, the large and electropositive rare earth metal centers are accessible to external reagents, which make them more active in many reactions. 

Figure 4.6 Two representative silyl amide type ligands.

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