A Study of the Synthesis, Properties and Reaction Chemistry of Transition Metal Silylene Complexes

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Silylene metal complexes, which are compounds in which a metal atom is attached by two pairs of electrons to a silicon atom, were not known prior to their recent synthesis in the Principal Investigator's laboratory. Since such complexes are believed to be involved as intermediates in a number of important metal-catalyzed reactions of silicon compounds, the results of this project are expected to provide a better understanding of these catalytic reactions, and also to lead to new reaction pathways to silicon-containing materials. For example, one goal of the project is to use metal silylene complexes to develop new routes to polysilanes, polymers which are expected to have useful properties as structural or electronic materials. This research is directed toward the synthesis and study of silylene complexes of late, or low valent transition metals. General synthetic procedures will be developed for the synthesis of silylene complexes of Mn, Cr, Co, Re, Mo, Rh, and Pt, and a detailed examination of the chemical and physical properties of these substances will be undertaken. The silylene complexes will be characterized by x-ray crystallography, Si-29 NMR spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements of redox potentials.