Dual Cooperative Catalysis by Group 4 Metals and Cr

在这个由美国国家科学基金会化学结构、动力学和机理B计划资助的项目中，由杰克·R·诺顿教授领导的哥伦比亚大学研究小组将探索有机金属化学的基本问题，并开发用于合成增值化学品的绿色催化剂。他们将使用廉价而丰富的第四类金属，如钛，与其他过渡金属相结合，合作激活和转化氢气--最清洁和最经济的化学来源之一。该项目涉及无机、有机金属和有机化学的混合物，因此为培养早期职业科学家提供了一个跨学科的环境。诺顿研究小组的学生被鼓励与学术和工业科学家互动，为在这两个专业领域的职业生涯做准备。该项目将解决有机金属和有机化学中的四个重要问题：(1)它将开发更有效的双金属催化剂来制备一类特别重要的伯醇(那些具有未支化结构的伯醇)；(2)它将探索用更便宜和更容易获得的烷氧基配体来取代这些催化剂中钛部分的环戊二烯配体；(3)它将尝试将这些双金属催化剂应用于自由基环化反应中，以构建天然产品中的多环支架；(4)它将确定O-和N-络合物中IV族金属-碳键的质子断裂是否涉及质子接力机制。该项目涉及无机、有机金属和有机化学的混合物，因此为培养早期职业科学家提供了一个跨学科的环境。PI在培训早期职业科学家方面有着出色的记录，并致力于建立一个网站，提供该组织多年来作为社区教学工具使用的动力学问题的例子。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In this project, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics, & Mechanisms B Program of the National Science Foundation, the research team at Columbia University led by Professor Jack R. Norton will explore fundamental issues in organometallic chemistry and develop green catalysis for the synthesis of value-added chemicals. They will use inexpensive and abundant Group IV metals such as titanium, in combination with other transition metals, to cooperatively activate and transform dihydrogen gas—one of the cleanest and most economical chemical sources. This project involves a mixture of inorganic, organometallic, and organic chemistry, and therefore offers an interdisciplinary environment for training early career scientists. Students in the Norton research group are encouraged to interact with both academic and industrial scientists, to prepare themselves for careers in either professional sector.The project will address four important issues in organometallic and organic chemistry: (1) it will develop more efficient bimetallic catalysts for the preparation of a class of primary alcohols (those with unbranched structures) that are of special importance; (2) it will explore the replacement of the cyclopentadienyl ligands in the Ti part of these catalysts with less expensive and more readily available alkoxy ligands; (3) it will try to apply these bimetallic catalysts in radical cyclizations for the construction of polycyclic scaffolds in natural products; (4) it will determine whether the proton cleavage of Group IV metal-carbon bonds in O– and N–containing complexes involves a proton relay mechanism. This project involves a mixture of inorganic, organometallic, and organic chemistry, and therefore offers an interdisciplinary environment for training early career scientists. The PI has an outstanding record of training early career scientists, and is engaged in standing up a web site that offers examples of kinetics problems the group has utilized through the years as a pedagogical tool for the community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.