Dinitrogen fixation activated by organometallic complexes under mild conditions is one of hot fields in modern industry, which try to convert abound but quite inert dinitrogen into ammonia or other nitrogenous compounds. In this review, coordination modes of N₂ molecule with transition-metal complexes are classified, and the main factors such as steric effect and electronic effect on the dinitrogen activation and functionalization promoted by dinuclear transition-metal complexes are surveyed. This review attempts to summarize recent experimental and theoretical studies concerning the reactivity patterns of dinitrogen with binuclear transition-metal complexes in the dinitrogen cleavage and functionalization as well as the CO/CO₂ induced N₂ activation. The prospects of dinitrogen fixation activated by transition-metal complexes is presented, which is hoped to assist chemists in guiding research in the future. Contents
1 Introduction
2 Bonding modes of dinitrogen with transition-metal complexes
3 Factors influencing dinitrogen activation
4 Reactivity of dinitrogen complexes
4.1 Dinitrogen cleavage
4.2 Dinitrogen functionalization
4.3 CO/CO₂ induced dintrogen activation
5 Outlook