A series of amine bis(phenolato)lanthanide methyl and amido complexes were synthesizedby general salt metathesis reaction in this paper. The reaction of anhydrous lanthanidetrichlorides with 1 equiv of sodium amine bis(phenolate) LNa
2 [L = Me
2NCH
2CH
2N{CH
2-(2-O-C
6H
2-Bu
t2-3,5)}
2] in THF at room temperature gave the amine bis(phenolate) lanthanidechlorides LLnCl(THF) (Ln = Yb (
1), Ln = Er (
2)). Complexes
1 and
2 can be used as startingmaterials to prepare amine bis(phenolate) lanthanide derivatives. Complexes
1 and
2 reactedwith lithium methyl and lithium amide, respectively, to give the corresponding lanthanidemethyl and amido products LLnMe(THF) (Ln = Yb (
3), Ln = Er (
4)) and LLnNPh
2(THF)(Ln = Yb (
5), Ln = Er (
6)). These complexes were well characterized by elemental analysesand IR spectra. The definitive molecular structures of complexes
1,
2,
3,
5, and
6 wereprovided by single-crystal X-ray analyses. Reactivity studies of complexes
3,
5, and
6 haveshown them to be efficient initiators for the ring-opening polymerization of
![](/images/gifchars/epsilon.gif)
-caprolactone.