Ligand Control of the Metal Coordination Sphere: Structures, Reactivity and Catalysis

Two major aspects of coordination/organometallic chemistry are discussed in this article: (i) the use of functional chelating ligands to stabilize metal complexes while allowing easy stereodifferentiation within the coordination sphere and (ii) the choice of suitable ligands to stabilize challenging ‘underligated’ metal complexes with electronically highly unsaturated metal centres, thus potentially displaying unusual reactivity. In both cases, the relevance to homogeneous catalysis will be discussed