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

在有机和高分子化学项目的支持下，麦迪逊的威斯康星州大学化学系的罗伯特·韦斯特教授正在探索硅和锗的多键和低配位化合物。West教授合成了含有多重键的新型有机硅和有机锗化合物，包括硅炔（RSiCR '）、锗烷（RGeCR'）、1，3-二硅丙二烯（R2 Si =C= SiR 2）、1，3-二锗丙二烯（R2 Ge =C= GeR 2）、聚硅炔聚合物[（RSi= CR '）n]和硅富勒烯如C58 Si 2。然后，他研究了这些不寻常的分子的化学反应，包括它们作为聚合催化剂的活性，作为稳定硅离子的前体，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理解已经相当复杂，但碳的近亲硅和锗的化学性质相对来说还不发达。位于麦迪逊的威斯康星州大学化学系的罗伯特·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。这些研究对于我们理解周期表中其他元素的化学性质具有根本的重要性。此外，韦斯特教授的目标化合物的不寻常结构预示着实际反应化学的潜在进展，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.