Organic and Organometallic Chemistry

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This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry program provides continued support for studies of organometallic reaction mechanisms by Dr. Robert G. Bergman, Chemistry Department, University of California at Berkeley. Efforts will be focused on three projects. The first concerns interaction between transition metals from the left and right sides of the series, respectively, within a single molecule. A second goal is generation of organometallic complexes that are highly reactive due to the presence of an unpaired electron at the metal center. In such species, relatively strong covalent bonds are formed to the metal so that organic compounds that do not ordinarily associate with metals may bond and then exhibit new reactivity. Some chemistry of analogous 18-electron metal anions will also be included. The third project is the synthesis of new ligands that confer planar chirality on early and late transition metal complexes so that the stereochemistry of metal-centered reactions that carry out organic transformations with asymmetric induction may be investigated. New metal dimerization catalysts for preparing oligomers and polymers with unusual structures from dienes and polyenes will be developed. Chemical reactions involving organic molecules and transition metal complexes are fundamental to the understanding of important catalytic and biological processes. In this program, the details of reactions in which the presence of one or two metals imposes steric restrictions or develops unusual electronic driving forces will be investigated.