Silylamides: towards a half-century of stabilising remarkable f-element chemistry

This review highlights some of the outstanding contributions to f-element chemistry that have been supported by monodentate silylamide ligands over the past 45 years, since Bradley reported the first 3-coordinate lanthanide (Ln) complexes, [Ln(N″)3] (N″={N(SiMe3)2}) in 1972. As well as providing a historical perspective, this review presents a plethora of monodentate silylamide f-element complexes with significant geometries, bonding motifs, physical properties and reactivity profiles.