Organolanthanide complexes of the type Cp'
2LnCH(SiMe
3)
2 (Cp' =
5-Me
5C
5; Ln = La, Nd, Sm,Lu) and Me
2SiCp' '
2LnCH(SiMe
3)
2 (Cp' ' =
5-Me
4C
5; Ln = Nd, Sm, Lu) serve as efficient precatalysts forthe regioselective intermolecular hydroamination of alkynes R'C
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
CMe (R' = SiMe
3, C
6H
5, Me), alkenesRCH=CH
2 (R = SiMe
3, CH
3CH
2CH
2), butadiene, vinylarenes ArCH=CH
2 (Ar = phenyl, 4-methylbenzene,naphthyl, 4-fluorobenzene, 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzene, 4-methoxybenzene, 4-(dimethylamino)benzene,4-(methylthio)benzene), di- and trivinylarenes, and methylenecyclopropanes with primary amines R' 'NH
2(R' ' =
n-propyl,
n-butyl, isobutyl, phenyl, 4-methylphenyl, 4-(dimethylamino)phenyl) to yield the correspondingamines and imines. For R = SiMe
3, R = CH
2=CH lanthanide-mediated intermolecular hydroaminationregioselectively generates the anti-Markovnikov
addition products (Me
3SiCH
2CH
2NHR' ', (
E)-CH
3CH=CHCH
2NHR' '). However, for R = CH
3CH
2CH
2, the Markovnikov
addition product is observed (CH
3CH
2CH
2CHNHR' 'CH
3). For internal alkynes, it appears that these regioselective transformations occur undersignificant stereoelectronic control, and for R' = SiMe
3, rearrangement of the product enamines occurs viatautomerization to imines, followed by a 1,3-trimethylsilyl group shift to stable
N-SiMe
3-bonded CH
2=CMeN(SiMe
3)R' ' structures. For vinylarenes, intermolecular hydroamination with
n-propylamine affords the anti-Markovnikov
addition product
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-phenylethylamine. In
addition, hydroamination of divinylarenes provides aconcise synthesis of tetrahydroisoquinoline structures via coupled
intermolecular hydroamination/subsequent
intramolecular cyclohydroamination sequences. Intermolecular hydroamination of methylenecyclopropaneproceeds via highly regioselective exo-methylene C=C insertion into Ln-N bonds, followed by regioselectivecyclopropane ring opening to afford the corresponding imine. For the Me
2SiCp' '
2Nd-catalyzed reaction ofMe
3SiC
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
CMe and H
2NCH
2CH
2CH
2CH
3,
H![](/images/entities/thermod.gif)
= 17.2 (1.1) kcal mol
-1 and
S![](/images/entities/thermod.gif)
= -25.9 (9.7) eu, while thereaction kinetics are zero-order in [amine] and first-order in both [catalyst] and [alkyne]. For the samesubstrate pair, catalytic turnover frequencies under identical conditions decrease in the order Me
2SiCp' '
2NdCH(SiMe
3)
2 > Me
2SiCp' '
2SmCH(SiMe
3)
2 > Me
2SiCp' '
2LuCH(SiMe
3)
2 > Cp'
2SmCH(SiMe
3)
2, in accordwith documented steric requirements for the insertion of olefinic functionalities into lanthanide-alkyl and-heteroatom
![](/images/gifchars/sigma.gif)
-bonds. Kinetic and mechanistic evidence argues that the turnover-limiting step isintermolecular C=C/C
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
C bond insertion into the Ln-N bond followed by rapid protonolysis of the resultingLn-C bond.