Multiply-bonded and Low-coordinate Compounds of Silicon and Germanium

在有机和大分子化学项目的支持下，威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校化学系的罗伯特·韦斯特教授正在探索硅和锗的多重键和低配位化合物。West教授合成了新型含多键的有机硅和有机锗化合物，包括硅烷（RSiCR‘）、锗烷（RGeCR’）、1,3-二烯（R2Si=C=SiR2）、1,3-二烯（R2Ge=C=GeR2）、聚硅烷聚合物[(RSi=CR')n]和硅富勒烯（C58Si2）。然后，他研究了这些不寻常分子的化学反应，包括它们作为聚合催化剂和稳定硅离子前体的活性，以及它们的亲盐反应。虽然我们对含碳化合物的化学性质的了解已经相当复杂，但是对碳的近亲硅和锗的化学性质的了解还比较不发达。威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校化学系的罗伯特·韦斯特教授正在研究一系列化合物的合成和反应化学，其中一个或多个碳原子被硅或锗取代。这些研究对于发展我们对元素周期表中其他元素的化学性质的理解具有根本的重要性。此外，韦斯特教授的目标化合物的不寻常结构有望在实际反应化学中取得进展，包括聚合反应。

With the support of the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program, Professor Robert West, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is exploring mulitply-bonded and low-coordinate compounds of silicon and germanium. Professor West synthesizes new types of organosilicon and organogermanium compounds containing multiple bonds, including silynes (RSiCR'), germynes (RGeCR'), 1,3-disilaallenes (R2Si=C=SiR2), 1,3-digermaallenes (R2Ge=C=GeR2), polysilyne polymers [(RSi=CR')n], and silafullerenes such as C58Si2. He then studies the chemical reactions of these unusual molecules, including their activity as polymerization catalysts and as precursors to stable silylenium ions, and their halophilic reactions.Although our understanding of the chemistry of compounds containing carbon has become quite sophisticated, the chemistry of carbon's closely related relatives, silicon and germanium, is comparatively undeveloped. Professor Robert West, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is studying the synthesis and reaction chemistry of a series of compounds in which one or more carbon atoms are replaced by silicon or germanium. These studies are of fundamental importance in developing our understanding of the chemistry of the other elements in the periodic table. In addition, the unusual structures of Professor West's target compounds promise potential advances in practical reaction chemistry, including polymerization reactions.