Unusual Electronic States, and 1st Row Transition Metal Coordination Chemistry Toward Catalysis

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Professor Peter Wolczanski of Cornell University is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program to probe the role of the density of excited electronic states in organometallic and inorganic reaction mechanisms. The hypothesis that swifter reactions characterize second row transition metal complexes relative to third row analogs due to greater d/s orbital mixing for the heavier elements is being tested. Strong field aryl ligands are being utilized as ancillary ligands to control the spin state and reactivity of first row metal complexes.The broader impacts of this project include student exposure to sophisticated techniques, both experimentally and computationally. In addition, elementary school science demonstrations and organizational lesson plans are being generated, and the roles of ethics and intellectual property issues in science today are being explored.