Imido Complexes of Groups 8-10 Active in Nitrene Transfer Reactions

Metal imido complexes, generally indicated as LnM=NR, are considered key-intermediates in nitrene transfer reactions, which are efficient and atom-economic procedures for the synthesis of N containing compounds. The isolation and characterization of catalytically active imido complexes are usually difficult tasks due to their high chemical reactivity and consequently the molecular structure of these species has often been predicted by theoretical calculations. This chapter provides an overview of imido derivatives of groups 8-10 whose structural features confer them an optimal stability/reactivity relationship. The effect of both ligand and nitrene functionality on defining the chemical characteristics of isolable active imido species will be discussed in order to rationalize how to reach the best compromise between chemical stability and catalytic activity of these class of compounds