Rare-Earth Metal Postmetallocene Catalysts with Chelating Amido Ligands

This review deals with the synthesis and the catalytic application of noncyclopentadienyl complexes of the rare-earth elements. The main topics of the review are amido metal complexes with chelating bidentate ligands, which show the most similarities to cyclopentadienyl ligands. Benzamidinates and guanidinates will be reviewed in a separate contribution within this book. Beside the synthesis of the complexes, the broad potential of these compounds in homogeneous catalysis is demonstrated. Most of the reviewed catalytic transformations are either C-C multiple bond transformation such as the hydroamination and hydrosilylation or polymerization reaction of polar and nonpolar monomers. In this area, butadiene and isoprene, ethylene, as well as lactides and lactones were mostly used as monomers.