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The reactivity of the monoanionic amidinate ligand [(CH3)3CNC(Ph)NSiMe2NC(Ph)-NHC(CH3)3]Li (1) with a silyl amido side arm towards the early actinides, uranium and thorium, was investigated. While the salt metathesis reaction with ThCl4(thf)3 afforded the bis(amidinate)thorium(IV) dichloride complex [(CH3)3CNC(Ph)NSi(CH3)2NC(Ph)-NHC(CH3)3]ThCl2 (2) in high yield, the reaction of ligand 1 with UCl4 leads to a Lewis acid supported nucleophilic attack of an incoming ligand unit, yielding the trichloro uranium complex [(CH3)3CNC(Ph)Si(CH3)2-N(C(CH3)3)C(Ph)NSi(CH3)2NC(Ph)N-(C(CH3)3]UCl3 (4). The exposure of in situ formed complex 2 to wet THF solutions (<1% w of water), gave the mono(amidinate)Th(IV)(chloro)- (bis-hydroxo) dimeric complex [(CH3)3CNC(Ph)NSiMe2NC(Ph)NHC(CH3)3Th(OH)2(Cl)]2·(3) as bright red needles, exhibiting extremely short Th-OH bond distances (1.741(5) Å and 1.737(5) Å). The reactivity of the thorium complex 2 in the ring opening polymerization (ROP) was studied, showing high activity. Thermodynamic and kinetic measurements were performed to shed light on the mechanism for the ROP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bis(amidinate) titanium and zirconium bis(dimethylamido)complexeswere prepared, and the dynamic behavior of the titanium complex containingperfluorinated amidinate ligand (11) was studied in detail.The variable-temperature NMR revealed the presence of two speciesin solution, in line with the different connection modes of the ligandto the metal center. The resulting complexes were tested as catalystsin the polymerization of propylene, and the resulting polymers wereconsistent with elastomeric high-molecular-weight atactic polypropylenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]