Highlights in the Renaissance of Amidometal Chemistry.

Turning a disadvantage to an advantage: The rather disappointing reactivity of the metal - nitrogen bond in comparison to the metal - carbon bond resulted in the neglect of amidometal chemistry after its heyday at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. Today it is precisely this disadvantage which is being applied through the use of amido ligands to produce inert complex fragments with well-defined reaction centers. In this way the chemistry of the early transition metals has been markedly enriched, and interesting alternatives to the classically regarded cyclopentadienyl ligands are now available.