Control of Reactivity of Electron-poor, Electron-rich, and Radical Metal Complexes

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The Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports the research of Professor Kenneth J. Caulton for the synthesis, characterization and reactivity testing of strong chemical bonds (multiple bonds and unreactive bonds). The strategy is to build high kinetic and thermodynamic reactivity into transition metal complexes while leaving metal orbitals unused and suited to attach and modify small substrate molecules. The target molecules violate textbook principles by having radical character, and thus fall outside the predictive capacity of current thinking. The far reaching implications of the research include: 1) the possible increase in control of normally unselective radical reactions, 2) the ability to make molecules capable of reacting with even the most inert of substrates: alkanes, N2O, CO2 and fluorocarbons, and 3) the pioneering access to unusual metal oxidation states and unusual electron transfer reactions. In general, the studies impact chemical catalysis with regard to fewer by-products, greater synthetic control and decreased energy consumption.