Multiply - Bonded and Low-Coordinate Silicon and Germanium Compounds

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With the support of the Organic Synthesis Program, Professor Robert West, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, studies the synthesis, structure, and bonding of multiply-bonded and low-coordinate silicon and germanium compounds. Specific classes of compounds under investigation include silynes, disilynes, metallole dianions, and metallacalicenes, as well as other compounds containing new types of double bonds between silicon or germanium and other atoms. Professor West is also exploring the chemistry of stable dicoordinate silicon compounds (silylenes) and their complexes with transition metals and the vaporization of carbon in the presence of silicon tetrachloride, producing silicon-containing fullerene derivatives.Many questions remain unanswered about the nature of chemical bonding, particularly with regards to the bonding between elements other than carbon. Professor Robert West, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, is supported by the Organic Synthesis Program for his studies of the synthesis and structure of compounds containing silicon and germanium atoms displaying unusual chemical bonding motifs. Of particular interest to Professor West are those compounds which display multiple bonds to these elements (e.g., silicon-carbon and silicon-silicon triple bonds) and those in which these elements bear fewer bonds than usual (e.g., dicoordinate silicon compounds). Finally, by inclusion of chemical sources of silicon atoms in the carbon vaporization synthesis of fullerenes ("Bucky balls"), Professor West is preparing silicon-containing fullerenes. Observations from each of these studies promise to afford fundamental advances in our understanding of the nature of chemical bonding.