Recyclable, water-stable Lewis acid catalyst. Prepn: J. Massaux, G. Duyckaerts, Anal. Chim. Acta 73, 416 (1974). Thermal decompn of nonahydrate: J. E. Roberts, J. S. Bykowski, Thermochim. Acta 25, 233 (1978). Catalytic applications in solvent-free carbamate synthesis: M. Curini et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 43, 4895 (2002); in Aldol-Grob synthesis of (E)-alkenes: idem et al., Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2003, 1631; in imino ene reactions: M. Yamanaka et al., J. Org. Chem. 68, 3112 (2003); in Fries-type rearrangements of acylanilides: W. Su, C. Jin, J. Chem. Res. 2004, 611; in Friedel-Crafts reactions: eidem, Synth. Commun. 34, 4199, 4249 (2004); in intramolecular Cannizzaro reactions of aryl methyl ketones: M. Curini et al., Org. Lett. 7, 1331 (2005); in aqueous Michael addition reactions: E. Keller, B. L. Feringa, Tetrahedron Lett. 37, 1879 (1996); R. Ding et al., J. Org. Chem. 71, 352 (2006). Review of synthetic applications of lanthanide triflates: S. Kobayashi et al., Chem. Rev. 102, 2227-2302 (2002).