Studies of Carbon-Sulfur Bond Cleavage by Homogeneous Transition Metal Complexes

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This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports research on carbon-sulfur bond cleavage in metal thiophene compounds by Dr. William D. Jones of the Chemistry Department, University of Rochester. The main goal is to understand the fundamental chemistry of the interaction of thiophenes and other sulfur-containing compounds with transition metal fragments and, in so doing, improve the effectiveness of HDS catalysts. The requirements and the detailed mechanism for cleavage of strong carbon-sulfur bonds will be investigated as well as the structural motifs for binding sulfur-containing organic compounds to metals. Particular attention will be paid to metal sulfhydryl and sulfido compounds, their interconversion, and lability. In addition, compounds containing tethered Cp-phosphine ligands with rhenium will be synthesized and their reactivity in HDS reactions investigated.Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is a process of removing sulfur from fossil fuels using molybdenum catalysts, sometimes with a nickel promoter. Current technology is marginal in meeting environmental regulations and needs to be improved. This research will focus on understanding the role of nickel and other metals in breaking the C-S bond, the most problematic step in the HDS catalytic cycle.