Spin Switchable Ligands for Probing Multistate Reactivity in Bimetallic Complexes

美国国家科学基金会化学系化学合成（SYN）项目的这一奖项支持了新墨西哥州立大学化学与生物化学系的Jeremy Smith教授的一个项目，该项目旨在开展旨在揭示高价铁配合物新反应性的基础研究。该项目涉及使用三（卡宾）硼酸盐配体制备新型铁（IV）配合物，并使用一系列简单的过渡金属羰基和亚硝基配合物系统地探测其电子结构。该项目本质上是跨学科的，涉及合成无机化学、各种光谱技术和磁性测量。该项目可能导致发现与固氮（即大气氮转化为可被生物体吸收的衍生物）潜在相关的铁（IV）配合物的新反应模式。此外，该项目将为学生提供优秀的跨学科培训，从本科生到博士后，包括那些历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体。

This award in the Chemical Synthesis (SYN) program in the Division of Chemistry at NSF supports a project by Professor Jeremy Smith from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at New Mexico State University to carry out fundamental studies aimed at uncovering new reactivity of high-valent iron complexes. The project involves the use of tris(carbene)borate ligands to prepare novel iron(IV) complexes and the use of a range of simple transition metal carbonyl and nitrosyl complexes to systematically probe their electronic structures. The project is interdisciplinary in nature and involves synthetic inorganic chemistry, a variety of spectroscopic techniques, and the measurement of magnetic properties.The project could lead to the discovery of new reactivity patterns in iron(IV) complexes of potential relevance to nitrogen fixation (i.e., the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to derivatives that can be assimilated by living organisms). In addition, this project will provide excellent interdisciplinary training of students, from undergraduate to post-doctoral, including those from groups historically underrepresented in the sciences.