Synthesis and structures of the C5Me4SiMe3-supported polyhydride complexes over the full size range of the rare earth series.

The acid-base reaction of [Ln(CH(2)SiMe(3))(3)(thf)(2)] with Cp'H gave the corresponding half-sandwich rare earth dialkyl complexes [(Cp')Ln(CH(2)SiMe(3))(2)(thf)] (1-Ln: Ln=Sc, Y, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu; Cp'=C(5)Me(4)SiMe(3)) in 62-90% isolated yields. X-ray crystallographic studies revealed that all of these complexes adopt a similar overall structure, in spite of large difference in metal-ion size. In most cases, the hydrogenolysis of the dialkyl complexes in toluene gave the tetranuclear octahydride complexes [{(Cp')Ln(μ-H)(2)}(4)(thf)(x)] (2-Ln: Ln=Sc, x=0; Y, x=1; Er, x=1; Tm, x=1; Gd, x=1; Dy, x=1; Ho, x=1) as the only isolable product.

Neutron diffraction studies on a 4-coordinate hydrogen atom in an yttrium cluster.

A four-coordinate hydrogen atom has been unambiguously located, by single-crystal neutron diffraction for the first time, in the center of the tetrahedral metal complex Y4H8(Cp')4(THF) [Cp'=C5Me4(SiMe3)]. The core of the molecule consists of a tetranuclear cluster with one interstitial, one face-bridging, and six edge-bridging hydride ligands. The compound was prepared via the reaction of YCp'(CH2SiMe3)2(THF) with gaseous H2.

Scandium half-metallocene-catalyzed syndiospecific styrene polymerization and styrene-ethylene copolymerization: unprecedented incorporation of syndiotactic styrene-styrene sequences in styrene-ethylene copolymers.

On treatment with 1 equiv of [Ph3C][B(C6F5)4], the scandium half-sandwich bis(alkyl) complex (C5Me4SiMe3)Sc(CH2SiMe3)2(THF) showed extremely high activity (up to 1.36 x 104 kg of sPS/(mol Sc.h)) and syndiospecificity (rrrr > 99%) for the polymerization of styrene at room temperature in toluene.