On the Design and Study of Robust Catalysts for Alkane Conversion

该奖项由无机，生物无机和有机化学 化学程序是有机金属化学领域。的 该项目的目标是开发更强大的催化剂， 将烷烃转化为其他有机化合物。烷烃 石油的主要成分， 因此，用于烷烃转化的催化剂在本领域中是重要的。 塑料和其他材料的工业合成， 石油。当这些催化剂降解时， 非常昂贵，并且开发出的催化剂 因此，降解具有重要的经济意义。 该项目的重点是开发同质 烷烃转化催化剂不受 通过P-C键断裂失活。将特别强调 放置在过渡金属聚碳酸酯上， 纯通过N-供体配体并且含有二氢配体。 将探索各种N-和S-供体配体，并且 聚氢化物衍生物的结构将通过 各种物理方法，特别是通过拉曼光谱和 变温核磁共振波谱法。除了研究 新类型的催化剂，将尝试扩大 可能的烷烃转化范围。在这些类型的 待探索的反应是不饱和烃的加氢烷基化， 物种、芳烃和CO的烷基化以及脱氢环化。 这种反应要么是目前根本不知道的， 烷烃或仅已知在非均相催化剂上发生。

This award from the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program is the area of organometallic chemistry. The goal of the project is to develop more robust catalysts for conversion of alkanes to other organic compounds. Alkanes are the principal constituents of petroleum, and efficient catalysts for alkane conversion are therefore important in the industrial synthesis of plastics and other materials from petroleum. Replacement of these catalysts as they degrade is very expensive, and the development of catalysts which resist degradation is thus of great economic significance. The focus of the project is the development of homogeneous alkane conversion catalysts which are not subject to deactivation by P-C bond cleavage. Particular emphasis will be placed on transition metal polyhydrides which are stabilized purely by N-donor ligands and which contain dihydrogen ligands. A variety of N- and S-donor ligands will be explored, and the structures of the polyhydride derivatives will be studied by a variety of physical methods, notably by Raman spectroscopy and variable temperature NMR spectroscopy. In addition to studying catalysts of new types, attempts will be made to extend the range of possible alkane conversions. Among the types of reactions to be explored are hydroalkylation of unsaturated species, alkylation of arenes and of CO, and dehydrocylisation. Such reactions are either not currently known at all for alkanes or are only known to occur over heterogeneous catalysts.