Novel, air-stable, lanthanide catalysts for the hetero Diels–Alder reaction

Abstract
Novel, air-stable, yttrium and ytterbium complexes were found effective in the catalysis of the typical hetero Diels–Alder reaction of crotonaldehyde and ethylvinyl ether. They represent an attractive solution to the problem of ligand lability in the realm of lanthanide catalysts. Key words: lanthanide, catalyst, hetero Diels–Alder, yttrium, ytterbium.