Enhanced Activation of Coordinated Dinitrogen with p-Block Lewis Acids.

This Concept article highlights recent research on Lewis acid adducts of dinitrogen complexes, including our contributions. After a reminder of the early works, it is demonstrated that such kind of species offers a new platform for dinitrogen functionalization as well as valuable models for the understanding of elementary steps of (bio)catalytic cycles. When possible, parallels regarding this mode of activation from the orbital point of view are drawn between the different systems discussed herein.