Typical bidentate, monoanionic PN ligand and its lanthanum complex studies in our group.
Although the chemistry of lanthanides has been explored for decades, the majority of these studies still focusses on the use of the ubiquitous cyclopentadiene ligand (C5R5) which was among the first ligands used in lanthanide chemistry. However, to develop a rich field in chemistry, also other spectator and non-spectator ligands need to be explored.
One class of ligands that has been well studied in transition metal chemistry but has only been poorly investigated in f-element chemistry, are phosphine derived ligands with chelating PN(P) coordination motifs. Our goal is to develop new, robust metal complexes using these kinds of unique ligands and study their reactivity, their electrochemical and spectroscopic properties. Recent highlights were the discovery of a light induced formation of P-P bonds or the synthesis of a bridging lanthanum phosphinidene complex.