Catalytic addition of terminal alkynes to carbodiimides by half-sandwich rare earth metal complexes

The catalytic addition of terminal alkynes to carbodiimides has been achieved for the first time by use of half-sandwich rare earth metal complexes, such as {Me2Si(C5Me4)(NPh)}Y(CH2SiMe3)(THF)2, which offers a straightforward, atom-economic route to the N,N'-disubstituted propiolamidines which contain a conjugated C-C triple bond, a new family of amidines which were difficult to prepare by other means. A rare earth metal amidinate species was confirmed to be a true catalytic species in this process, thus demonstrating for the first time that an amidinate unit, though being often used as an ancillary ligand for various organometallic complexes, can itself participate in a catalytic reaction under appropriate conditions.