Dinuclear p Complexes of Yttrium and Lutetium with Sandwiched Naphthalene and Anthracene Ligands: Evidence for Rapid Intramolecular Inter-Ring Rearrangements

Unusual, rapid fluxional behavior is exhibited by polyarene complexes of yttrium(III) and lutetium(III), which were obtained as intensely colored compounds by the reaction of [{(`P2N2')Ln}2(µ-Cl)2] with naphthalene or anthracene in the presence of KC8. Inter-ring migration of the Ln(`P2N2') unit is proposed on the basis of NMR spectroscopic data. The picture shows the structure of an yttrium naphthalene complex. `P2N2'=PhP(CH2SiMe2NSiMe2CH2)2PPh.