Chemistry of Transition Metal/Main Group Element Complexes

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The focus of this project in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program is structure, bonding and reactivity in transition metal/main group element compounds. Much of the work utilizes as a template a chiral rhenium complex, which is readily available in optically active form. This facilitates mechanistic tests and application of the findings in asymmetric synthesis. Specific goals include the synthesis and study of (1) alkyl halide complexes, a virtually unknown class of compounds; (2) complexes of unsaturated organosilicon ligands, such as silylene, disilene and silene complexes; and (3) phosphido, amide and sulfoxide complexes. It is probable that general methods for the activation of alkyl halides and for asymmetric oxidation of sulfides will be developed. Basic research on the molecular chemistry of phosphorus and silicon is important because of the many uses which these main group elements find in materials science (photoresists, ceramics, composits, etc.), often in combination with a metal.