Control of Function and Reactivity in Lanthanide Chemistry by Tailored Ligand Design

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The goal of the research described in this proposal is to control the physical and chemical properties of metal ions in compounds. Compounds of the lanthanide metals are the specific focus of this work because they offer important advantages over other metals including higher reactivity, different selectivity and desirable electronic and nuclear properties. Lanthanide chemistry has developed slowly because these metals require special coordination environments to form reactive compounds. In catalysis, for example, a fine balance must be achieved between formation of stable, isolable compounds and metal centres with sufficient reactivity to carry out useful chemical transformations. The new coordination systems described here are designed to achieve two very different purposes: (i) to allow the catalytic formation of C-C, C-N and other bonds in organic molecules and (ii) to form water and air stable lanthanide compounds that have pharmaceutical applications in medical imaging (magnetic resonance, gamma imaging, fluorescence imaging) or therapy (radio-lanthanide complexes as targeted anti-cancer drugs). Access to new organic molecules, facilitated by lanthanide catalysts, is critical to developing new pharmaceuticals and materials with unusual electronic, optical and magnetic properties. Lanthanide compounds have assumed a major role in medicine, acting as the pharmaceutical agent for imaging or targeted tumor destruction. The development of new coordination environments for the lanthanides that forms the basis of this proposal is critical to realizing the practical potential of these unique metals.