well-known silylamide and dialkylamide complexes but also 'inorganic' amides (NH 2 À ) and hydrazides. The definition of lanthanide amides has been stretched even further to include pyrazolylborates, porphyrins and other nitrogen-donor macrocycles. A wide range of applications of the complexes are described: homogeneous catalysis, materials synthesis, magnetic resonance imaging and catalytic RNA cleavage.
Heteroallylic ligands such as benzamidinates, diiminosulphinates and phosphinates, and alkoxysilylamides, are relative newcomers to lanthanide chemistry. Their chemistry, particularly with respect to their use as alternatives to the ubiquitous cyclopentadienyls in organolanthanide chemistry, is reviewed concisely.
Lanthanide alkoxides and their uses as precursors for oxide synthesis have been reviewed many times; the present text deals with these areas briefly, directing the reader to existing reviews. Although the chapter is entitled 'Routes to monomeric lanthanide alkoxides' the preparations of several bi-and poly-metallic complexes are described. Another surprise is a section dealing with Schiff base ligands containing OH groups, as well as a short section on calixarenes. The recent applications of lanthanide alkoxides as catalysts, catalyst precursors and reagents in organic chemistry are reviewed.
The only true organometallic chemistry appears in the final chapter, which deals with the applications of lanthanide metallocenes in homogeneous catalysis. This chapter gives an excellent account of the spectacular successes achieved in organolanthanide-catalysed olefin transformations such as hydrogenation, polymerization and hydroamination.
Overall this book gives a useful overview of contemporary lanthanide chemistry. Its title, and most of the chapter headings, are quite misleading, and the reader will no doubt be surprised at the inclusion of much of the material. This does not, however, detract from the usefulness of the book.