The Lanthanides and Scandium 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. 

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

Scandium is still a neglected element. It is the most expensive metal in its period (caused by the fact that its even distribution in the earth means that there are no rich ores) and its chemistry is virtually exclusively that of the +3 oxidation state, so that it is not classed as a transition metal and is often silent to spectroscopy and not amenable to study by many of the usual spectroscopic tools of the coordination chemist. Chemists have often either tended to assume that complexes of Sc are just like those of the tripositive ions of the transition metals or that they resemble lanthanide complexes. Neither of these assumptions is correct—how incorrect we are now realizing. Scandium chemistry is starting to exhibit characteristics all of its own, and possibly the burgeoning use of scandium compounds in organic synthesis may drive a real expansion of scandium chemistry. 

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