The Chemistry of Organosamarium (II) and Related Complexes

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Dr. William J. Evans, Chemistry Department, University of Califonia-Irvine, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division to define and develop new types of chemistry and chemical transformations which exploit the special properties of organosamarium(II) and related complexes. The project's general purpose will be to expand the limits of lanthanide chemistry and to develop new reaction and reagents. By utilizing the tetrahedral reaction cavity which exists in decamethylsamarocene, size selective hydrocarbon reactions such as C-H metalations, C-C coupling and other novel reactions will be developed. Using the reducing power of Sm(II), main group-carbon bonds with energies as high as 215 kJ/mol can be cleaved. This property will be utilized to produce unusual compounds containing main group clusters. These studies will then be extended to a variety of additional Sm(II) species in order to systematize the chemistry of this oxidation state. Metal compounds are used to effect many chemical transformations. While the importance of many metals has been well established, there is a group, called the lanthanides, whose chemistry is not well developed, even though tantalizing hints of important behaviors have emerged over the past few years. In this project the ability of a series of samarium compounds to activate hydrocarbons and to break bonds between carbon and other elements will be assessed. This will contribute both to the overall understanding of the lanthanide metals and to the discovery of new uses for samarium, which is an inexpensive metal readily available in the United States.