Small Molecule Activation and Materials Synthesis

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This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports studies of bond-making and bond-breaking events in organometallic and solid state compounds by Dr. Peter T. Wolczanski of the Chemistry Department, Cornell University. Sterically demanding pi-donors, such as tributyl-substituted silyl groups, will be attached to reactive low-coordinate metal complexes, particularly those containing tungsten (III-VI). These compounds will be used to investigate the mechanism and selectivity of activation of C-H, C-C and C-N bonds. A mechanistic assessment of beta-elimination of heteroatoms, a difficulty in Ziegler-Natta copolymerization, will provide information needed for prediction of functionality-tolerant systems. Emphasis will be placed on extending the scope and potential applications of a new class of solid state materials containing "covalent, metal-organic networks" (CMON). Titanium based 2- and 3-dimensional compounds will be explored as designer solid-state catalysts, since these have already shown some potential in olefin oligomerization. New soluble metal complexes will be synthesized and their reactivity in small molecule catalysis will be determined. In addition to obtaining fundamental knowledge important in organometallic chemistry, the results are relevant to catalysis in the petroleum industry and solid state chemistry. Students involved in the project will learn skills in manipulation of air-sensitive compounds, spectroscopic characterization, structure determination, computer simulation of mechanistic investigations, and computational modeling.