Transition-Metal Polyborane Interactions: Catalysis and Coordination Chemistry

宾夕法尼亚大学化学系的Larry Sneddon教授受到无机，生物无机和有机化学计划的支持，研究聚硼烷化合物，这些化合物通常具有相关的性能，可用于从癌症药物到高温聚合物，燃烧速率调节剂的应用，最近作为陶瓷前体。为了利用这些聚硼烷的性质，需要合理的、选择性地开发高产率的反应途径。因此，作为第一步，Sneddon教授将专注于新的，通用的方法，使系统的高产量合成聚硼烷的发展。与此同时，注意力也将集中在探索金属配位和其他化学和生物活性特性的独特的集群，这样产生的。接下来，努力将扩展到全新的方向，即制定新类型的金属催化反应的高产率选择性聚硼烷改性，沿着的合成和评估的早期金属metallapolyborane集群的新类型，特别关注那些metallapolyborane系统，具有抗肿瘤和/或催化活性的潜力。

Professor Larry Sneddon, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program to investigate polyborane compounds, which in general possess relevant properties useful in applications ranging from cancer agents to high temperature polymers, burn rate modifiers, and most recently as ceramic precursors. To exploit the properties of these polyboranes necessitates a rational, selective development of high yield reaction pathways. Hence, as a first step, Professor Sneddon will focus on novel, general methodologies to enable the development of systematic high-yield syntheses of polyboranes. Concomitantly, attention will also be directed at exploring metal coordination and other chemical and bioactivity properties of the unique clusters so produced. Next, the effort will be expanded into totally new directions, namely into formulating novel types of metal-catalyzed reactions for high-yield selective polyborane modifications, along with the synthesis and evaluation of new types of early metal metallapolyborane clusters, with a particular focus on those metallapolyborane systems that have the potential for antitumor and/or catalytic activity.