Dehydrogenation of organolanthanide alkoxides and X-ray crystal structure of reaction product [(C5H5)2 Yb(µ-OCHCCH2)]2

Abstract

[Cp₃Yb] reacts with HOR (Cp = C₅H₅; R = CH₂CHCH₂, CH₂CH₂Me) in thf (thf = tetrahydrofuran) at room temperature to give complexes [{Cp₂Yb(µ-OR)}₂], which are dehydrogenated to yield the new complex [{Cp₂Yb(µ-OCHCCH₂)}₂] in refluxing thf solution; the X-ray crystal structure shows that the new complex is dimeric with oxygen atoms as bridging groups.