Chapter 10 - Nitrogen-based pincers: A versatile platform for organometallic chemistry

Abstract

Pincer ligands form a simple design that has led to the development of a broad and diverse research portfolio of complexes that contain this motif. The typical designation of a pincer stems from the presence of two amines or other nitrogen-based donors that flank the central aryl or alkyl C−M bond. This chapter focuses on the transition metal complexes of pincer ligands, which contain a central aryl ring flanked by nitrogen-based donors––that is, NCN-type pincers. Compounds with this motif contain metals spanning the periodic table from titanium to mercury because of the ready availability of versatile organolithium synthons. Historically, pincer ligands are commonly associated with the transition metal organometallic chemistry. In addition to the well-developed organometallic chemistry, there is also a relatively rich and diverse variety of main group complexes that are studied in this chapter. In terms of impacts on organometallic and main group chemistry, complexes containing the NCN motif represent a large number of chemical “firsts.”