Redox Active Heterocycles: From Free Radicals to Non-Innocent Ligands

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The research undertaken in my group, supported through an NSERC Canada Research Chair, has focused on preparing new 'responsive' organic materials in which the physical (magnetic) properties respond to changes in the surroundings such as heat, light or pressure. During the last few years our research in this area has uncovered several new areas of coordination chemistry which are not directly related to our research on organic materials but provide exciting opportunities to open up new avenues of research. We seek funding through this Discovery Grant to more fully explore these new areas of chemistry. Whilst we can foresee potential benefits arising from this research in the medium-long term, the objective of the current application is to fully develop the underpinning chemistry in order that we can position ourselves to exploit the science in the fullness of time.***Project 1. In the last 4 years we have developed synthetic methodologies to access a range of organic molecules known as thiadiazines as building blocks in our CRC-funded materials chemistry program. However the core structure of these molecules is also central to a series of thiazide drugs which have applications in treating medical conditions such as hypertension and osteoporosis. The significant difference between these two classes of compound is the "oxidation state" of the sulphur atom in the organic molecules which substantially changes their electronic properties. In this project we aim to explore the coordination chemistry of these thiadiazines to a range of transition metals. This has never been attempted previously and the resultant complexes have potentially diverse properties ranging from new magnetic materials to photo-luminescent devices and catalysts. We will systematically explore the chemistry and materials properties of this new family of compounds.****Project 2. A key intermediate in some of our magnetic-materials research is a family of molecules known as tetrathiocines which we can readily generate in multi-gram quantities. In the past few years we have found these tetrathiocines can react with selected metals (nickel, palladium and platinum) to form 'metal dithiolates'. These dithiolate compounds are studied extensively in biology as models for metallo-enzymes and in materials chemistry as magnets, conductors, optical materials and in solar cells. Our synthetic methodology provides an exciting opportunity to access new families of dithiolate complexes in just 1-2 steps which offer potentially enhanced electronic properties such as more efficient dyes for solar cells.***This application thus comprises two distinct research programs which will not only contribute to scientific knowledge, but may offer potential applications in molecular materials science and will provide excellent training of next-generation HQP which will directly benefit the Canadian market place.*** **