The title compound, [Ce(C13H19N2)3], was obtained in moderate yield (67%) by treatment of anhydrous cerium trichloride with three equivalents of Li[PhC(NiPr)2] in tetrahydrofuran. It is the first homoleptic lanthanide complex of this amidinate ligand. The central CeIII ion is coordinated by three chelating benzamidinate anions in a distorted octahedral fashion, with Ce—N distances in the narrow range 2.482 (2)–2.492 (2) Å. The dihedral angles between the phenyl rings and the chelating N—C—N units are in the range 73.3–87.9°, thus preventing conjugation between the two π-systems. The molecule is located on a twofold rotation axis, and one of the phenyl rings is equally disordered over two alternative symmetry-equivalent positions around this axis
