Studies on organolanthanide complexes: XXXVIII. New organolanthanide hydrides: synthesis and reactivity towards alkenes, alkynes and organic halides☆

Abstract The reaction of [O(CH 2 CH 2 C 5 H 4 ) 2 ]LnCl with NaH in THF at 45°C generates the dimeric organolanthanide hydridges, [O(CH 2 CH 2 C 5 H 4 ) 2 LnH] 2 (Ln = Gd, Er, Yb, Lu, Y), in good yield. These new complexes have been fully characterized by elemental analyses, mass spectrometry, IR and NMR spectroscopy. The hydrides cn react with alknes and alkynes. A more active system, organolanthanide hydride/NaH, is able not only to reduce specifically the terminal carboncarbon double bond but also to catalyse dehalogenation of organic halides.