Mechanochemistry - A Promising Tool on the Synthesis of Organometallic Pincer Compounds: Current State and Future Perspectives

Among the different synthetic procedures available where the reactivity of substances is exploited using solid-state chemistry, such as microwave irradiation, ultrasound (sonochemistry), photochemistry, and mechanochemistry, the latter stands out as a synthetic tool in various areas of chemistry and materials sciences, acquiring great relevance in recent years. Thus, mechanochemistry has been applied in different areas, such as organic synthesis, preparation of metal complexes, multicomponent pharmaceutical solid forms, catalysis, polymers, etc. However, despite the attractiveness of this sustainable technique, its application in the synthesis of coordination and organometallic compounds has been very incipient. On the other hand, pincer compounds have been a privileged ligand platform that has been profusely used for the synthesis of organometallic and coordination compounds for the last 20 years, finding applications in a large number of areas of chemistry, this being particularly true in the case of catalysis, being able to activate bonds difficult to activate, such as C-H bonds, due in part to their characteristic thermal robustness. Thus, on this perspective paper, we present the current state of mechanochemistry in the preparation of organometallic pincer compounds and discuss future perspectives for the synthesis of these foremost interesting species via mechanochemistry.