Half-Sandwich Indenyl Rare Earth Metal Dialkyl Complexes: Syntheses, Structures, and Catalytic Activities of (1,3-(SiMe₃)₂C₉H₅)Ln(CH₂SiMe₃)₂(THF)

Reactions of 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyl)indene with Ln(CH₂SiMe₃)₃(THF)₂ gave half-sandwich rare earth metal complexes (1,3-(SiMe₃)₂C₉H₅)Ln(CH₂SiMe₃)₂(THF) (Ln = Y, Lu, Dy). These complexes were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which showed the η⁵ hapticity of indenyl ligands in all of the complexes. The catalytic behaviors of the complexes for intramolecular hydroamination of aminoalkenes were investigated. The catalytic activity increased with increasing the metal ion size, and the Y and Dy complexes showed excellent activities to a variety of aminoalkenes.