Ligands
are known to play a crucial role in the construction of
complexes with metal–metal bonds. Compared with metal–metal
bonds involving d-block transition metals, knowledge of the metal–metal
bonds involving f-block rare-earth metals still lags far behind. Herein,
we report a series of complexes with cerium–transition-metal
bonds, which are supported by two kinds of nitrogen–phosphorus
ligands N[CH2CH2NHPiPr2]3 (VI) and PyNHCH2PPh2 (VII). The reactions of zerovalent group 10 metal precursors,
Pd(PPh3)4 and Pt(PPh3)4, with the cerium complex supported by VI generate heterometallic
clusters [N{CH2CH2NPiPr2}3Ce(μ-M)]2 (M = Pd, 2 and
M = Pt, 3) featuring four Ce–M bonds; meanwhile,
the bimetallic species [(PyNCH2PPh2)3Ce-M] (M = Ni, 5; M = Pd, 6; and M = Pt, 7) with a single Ce–M bond were isolated from the reactions
of the cerium precursor 4 supported by VII with Ni(COD)2, Pd(PPh3)4, or Pt(PPh3)4, respectively. These complexes represent the
first example of species with an RE–M bond between Ce and group
10 metals, and 2 and 3 contain the largest
number of RE–M donor/acceptor interactions ever to have been
observed in a molecule.