Ytterbium and samarium bis(diphosphanylamides): syntheses and structures of lanthanide complexes having two [(Ph2P)2N]- ligands in the coordination sphere

Bis(diphosphanylamide) complexes of the lanthanides have been synthesized. Two approaches to obtain these compounds are shown. Reaction of YbCl3 with a slight excess of [K(THF)n][N(PPh2)2] gives [((Ph2P)2N)2 YbCl(THF)2], which can be further reacted with K(C5Me5) to give the corresponding pentamethylcyclopentadienyl complex [((Ph2P)2N)2Yb(C5Me5)]. In a second approach to bis(diphosphanylamide) complexes of the lanthanides, Na(C(5)H(5)) was treated with SmCl3 to generate [(C5H5)SmCl2(THF)3] in situ. Further reaction with 2 equiv of [K(THF)n][N(PPh2)2] gave the desired complex [((Ph2P)2N)2Sm(C5H5)(THF)].