Metallaboratranes: Soft Scorpionates and Masked Metal Bases

所有分子金属化合物都是由一群电子给体(配体)包围的金属。这些配位体的设计和操作以及它们与金属的相互作用(配位化学)支持金属的所有应用，无论它们在生物、制药、材料或工业应用中。这一建议解决了直径相反的角色颠倒，即金属中心充当配体的电子供体。这种罕见的情况最近才在这个研究小组中得到证实，但有望成为更广泛的新配位化学的一部分，拟议的工作将探讨其局限性。

All molecular metal compounds involve a metal surrounded by a group of electron donors (?ligands?). The design and manipulation of these ligand sets and their interactions with metals (?coordination chemistry?) underpins ALL applications of metals, be they in biological, pharmaceutical, materials or industrial applications. This proposal addresses the diametric opposite - the role-reversal wherein a metal centre acts as an electron donor to a ligand. This rare situation has only recently been firmly established in this research group, but promises to be part of a wider new coordination chemistry, the limits of which will be pursued in the proposed work.