Elisa Campazzi, Euro Solari, Carlo Floriani and Rosario Scopelliti
The meso-octaethylporphyrinogen–sodium–lanthanide complexes, [{(η5 : η1 : η5 : η1-Et8N4)M}Na(thf)2], in the presence of Na metal and under a nitrogen atmosphere, fix and reduce dinitrogen to the [N2]2– anion, as shown by the isolation of the dinuclear complexes containing the [M(µ-η2 : η2-N2)M] moiety [M = Pr, Nd].