Inorganic Reaction Chemistry of Nitrous Oxide

Gregory L. Hillhouse博士，芝加哥大学化学系，受到化学系无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目的支持，致力于开发氧化亚氮和相关物质的金属介导反应。利用氧化亚氮和有机叠氮化物的氧和亚胺插入反应，合成了一系列晚过渡金属氢氧化物、烷氧化物和亚胺。金属体系的选择将使还原消除反应将导致含氧或氮杂原子的环状有机分子的清洁形成。将构建金属催化这些转化的系统。当今最大的化学挑战之一是有机底物的选择性氧化。一种非常吸引人的氧化剂是氧化亚氮，这种分子在充当氧转移剂后，只释放出无毒且对环境友好的氮气。此外，一氧化二氮被认为是一种“温室气体”和平流层的“臭氧消耗者”；找到这种气体的新用途将是有利的，它现在是化学工业未充分利用的双产物。在这个项目中，将设计金属系统来激活氧化亚氮的氧原子转移反应，并开发金属催化剂来促进这些反应。因此，一氧化二氮的新用途和一些相关物种将被开发出来。

Dr. Gregory L. Hillhouse, Chemistry Department, University of Chicago, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division to develop metal mediated reactions of nitrous oxide and related species. The oxo and imido insertion reactions of nitrous oxide and organoazides will be utilized to synthesize a series of late transition metal hydroxides, alkoxides, and imides. The metal systems will be chosen so that reductive elimination reactions will result in the clean formation of cyclic organic molecules that contain oxygen or nitrogen heteroatoms. Systems will be constructed in which the metal catalyzes these transformations. One of today's greatest chemical challenges is the selective oxidation of organic substrates. A very attractive oxidant is nitrous oxide, a molecule which liberates only nontoxic and environmentally friendly nitrogen gas after it serves as an oxygen transfer agent. Moreover, nitrous oxide is recognized as both a `greenhouse gas` and a stratospheric `ozone depleter`; it would be advantageous to find new uses for this gas, which is now an underutilized biproduct of the chemical industry. In this project metal systems will be designed to activate nitrous oxide toward oxygen atom transfer reactions and metal catalysts will be developed to facilitate these reactions. As a result new uses for nitrous oxide and some related species will be developed.