Finely Tuned Rare-Earth Metal Catalyzes the Exact Interactions Needed for Site-Selective Molecular Synthesis

Subtle electronic differences between metals in the periodic table can lead to radical changes in chemical reactivity. Now, a research team led by Zhaomin Hou from the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako, has found that scandium, a seldom-studied rare-earth metal, enables the catalytic addition of functional groups to unsaturated carbon bonds with better selectivity than other metals-a boon to chemists seeking precise control over molecular assembly.

Hou and his team are experts in the field of rare-earth materials, and recently discovered that a so-called ‘half-sandwich’ complex, comprising a scandium cation and a pentagonal carbon ring, could efficiently catalyze production of long polymer chains2.

“Our scandium complex acted as an excellent catalyst for olefin polymerization, with unprecedented activity and selectivity,” says Hou. Because the scandium complex targeted unsaturated carbon bonds during the polymerization process, the researchers realized its enormous potential in other important synthetic reactions, such as carbometalation.