Synthesis, characterization and structural diversity of lanthanide chlorides supported by the β-diketiminate ligand [{(2,6-Me2C6H3)NC(Me)}2CH]−

Reactions of the β-diketiminate lithium salt L2Li [L2={(2,6-Me2C6H3)NC(Me)}2CH] with anhydrous LnCl3 (Ln=Yb, Sm, Nd) in 1:1 molar ratio in THF afforded the new β-diketiminate lanthanide complexes L2LnCl(THF)(μ-Cl)2Li(THF)2 (Ln=Yb (1), Sm (2), Nd (3)). Recrystallization of complexes 1–3 from toluene gave the neutral complexes L2LnCl2(THF)2 (Ln=Yb (4), Sm (5), Nd (6)). Recrystallization of complexes 4 and 5 in hot toluene for two times gave the dinuclear complexes L2ClLn(μ-Cl)3LnL2(THF) (Ln=Yb (7), Sm (8)). Treatment of the mother liquor of complex 2 in hot toluene for three times gave the novel trinuclear complex L2SmCl(μ-Cl)3SmL2(μ-Cl)Li(L2H)(THF) (9). Each of these complexes was well characterized, while complexes 3, 7 and 9 have been characterized by X-ray diffraction structure determination.