Scorpionate Ligands: Ever-Young Chemistry Tools

Since the introduction of tris(pyrazolyl)borates by Trofimenko, in the 1960s, in a pivotal paper on “Boron-Pyrazole Chemistry”, scorpionate ligands are some of the most widely-used ligands in chemistry. They readily coordinate a wide variety of metal ions, affording stable metal complexes: the term scorpionate derives from the interchange between their bi- and tri-dentate coordination modes. In the last 50 years, the success of poly(azolyl)borates has inspired the development of a new generation Scorpionates, including the analogous poly(azolyl)alkanes, which are excellent supporting ligands for most metals of the Periodic Table. Even if this shows that, in this field, a great deal of research has been done, Scorpionates chemistry and their applications have not been fully explored yet. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the latest advances in the field of scorpionate ligands, highlighting their stimulating and innovative applications in coordination chemistry, organometallics, catalysis, supramolecular assembly, materials science, medicinal inorganic chemistry or enzymes modeling.