Chemistry of metal β-diketonates
The chemistry of metal β-diketonates broadly follows the pattern in 1887. Three types of metal β-diketonate complexes : (i) oxygen bonded, (ii) carbonbonded and (iii) both oxygen and carbon bonded have been synthesised by a variety of routes. Out of these, the reactions of various β-diketones and β-ketoesters with simple and bimetallic alkoxides in different stoichiometric ratios in benzene medium have been exploited for synthesizing novel derivatives of the first type and also for throwing light on their structural features. A brief mention has been made of a new class of metalla-derivatives of β-diketones.