Stabilization of Neutral Divalent Carbon Compounds with One or Two Lone Pairs of Electrons: En Route to Strong Donor Ligands

在化学系有机动力学项目的支持下，加州大学河滨分校化学系的盖伊·伯特朗教授将研究四种不同类别的化合物，这些化合物的分离受到了天生不稳定的信念的阻碍，或者是研究人员的合成技能无法实现。它们是非杂原子取代的环丙烯(碳氢卡宾)及其二聚体(三富瓦烯)，更大的环尺寸的碳环卡宾(受益于芳香性)，以及弯曲烯。选择这些物种不仅是因为它们代表着令人兴奋的合成挑战，更重要的是因为它们应该具有有趣的电子和空间性质，这可能会导致重要的应用，特别是作为过渡金属催化剂的配体。多年来，均相催化的成功在很大程度上可以归功于一系列不同的配体框架的发展，这些框架已被用来调整各种系统的行为。这项工作的最终目标是为催化界提供新的、容易获得的配体，这将允许开发真正实用的催化剂，这些催化剂将在学术界和工业中得到应用。此外，该项目处于物理、有机和有机金属化学之间，因此非常适合各级科学家的教育。对于未来来说，找到能够将丰富而廉价的分子转化为从大宗化学品到治疗药物的有用化合物的催化剂至关重要。加州大学河滨分校被归类为少数族裔服务机构，它处于有利地位，可以为在科学领域代表性不足的学生提供最高质量的教育体验。由于这一事实，不同的学生群体将参与到这个项目中来。这项研究还将促进加州大学河滨分校与几所法国大学之间的合作研究和本科生、毕业生和博士后研究员的交流。

With the support of the Organic Dynamics Program in the Chemistry Division, Professor Guy Bertrand of the Chemistry Department at the University of California - Riverside, will study four different classes of compounds, the isolation of which have been impeded by the belief that they are inherently unstable, or have eluded the synthetic skills of investigators. They are non-heteroatom substituted cyclopropenylidenes (hydrocarbon carbenes) and their dimers (triafulvalenes), larger ring size carbocycliccarbenes that benefit from aromaticity, and bent-allenes. These species have not only been chosen because they represent exciting synthetic challenges but more importantly because they should feature interesting electronic and steric properties, which can lead to important applications, especially as ligands for transition metal catalysts. Over the years the success of homogeneous catalysis can be attributed largely to the development of a diverse range of ligand frameworks that have been used to tune the behavior of the various systems. The ultimate goal of this effort is to provide the catalytic community with new, readily available ligands, which will allow for the development of truly practical catalysts that will find application in both academia and industry.Additionally, this project is at the interface between physical, organic and organometallic chemistry and is therefore well suited to the education of scientists at all levels. It is of paramount importance for the future to find catalysts able to transform abundant and cheap molecules into useful compounds ranging from bulk chemicals to therapeutics. The University of California- Riverside, classified as a minority serving institution, is well positioned to provide the highest quality educational experience for students underrepresented in science. Because of this fact, a diverse group of students will be involved in the project. This research will also promote collaborative research and the exchange of undergraduates, graduates and postdoctoral fellows between UC Riverside and several French universities.