Silole and germole complexes of lanthanum and cerium

Using dianionic metallole ligands (silole or germole) and the cyclooctatetraendiide dianion, heteroleptic lanthanide multi-decker complexes have been prepared. Due to the heteroatom of the metallole ligands intermolecular bridging between the sandwich complexes takes place. Our work highlights that different combinations of the lanthanide and heterocycle lead to different intermolecular interactions including a dimeric La-silole sandwich complex, a La-germole ladder-type polymeric species and a Ce-germole coordination polymer.