Transition metal complexes with polydentate pi-accepting ligands

自然科学是加拿大研究和发展的重要组成部分。 这个研究项目是独一无二的，有助于化学研究。自从维尔纳在配位化学理论上的开创性工作以来，已经描述了数千种新的配位化合物及其各自的结构、成键和反应性。 无机配位化合物需要金属原子或离子以及一个或多个配体。改变金属或配体可以对所得产物的化学性质产生显着影响，并产生配位化合物，这些化合物开辟了新的研究领域，如有机金属化学和生物无机化学以及在材料，催化和有机方法学中的应用。配体在决定金属中心的电子环境方面至关重要，并且可用于在金属络合物中产生刘易斯酸性。一种非常有效的方法是通过配体上的Pi受体轨道接受来自填充金属d轨道的电子密度。具有Pi-接受性质的单体配体是容易获得的（例如CO、NO），并且已知产生刘易斯酸性过渡金属络合物。这种性质的多齿配体是相对罕见的，并提供了一个重要的化学领域，仍然在很大程度上未被探索。在本研究计划中，我们打算合成具有π-接受官能团的配体，如腈和异腈，将这些配体与过渡金属离子配位，并探索所得配合物在有机催化中的应用。

The Natural Sciences are a critical part of the research and development occurring in Canada.  This research program is unique and contributes to research in chemistry. Since Werner's seminal work on the theory of coordination chemistry, thousands of new coordination compounds and their respective structures, bonding and reactivity have been described.  An inorganic coordination compound requires a metal atom or ion and one or more ligands. Changing either the metal or the ligand can have dramatic effects on the chemical nature of the resulting product and has yielded coordination compounds that have opened new research areas such as organometallic chemistry and bioinorganic chemistry as well applications in materials, catalysis and organic methodology. Ligands are crucial in determining the electronic environment at the metal centre and can be used to create Lewis acidity in a metal complex. One very effective way this can be done is by accepting electron density from filled metal d-orbitals via an available Pi acceptor-orbital on the ligand. Monomeric ligands possessing Pi-accepting properties are readily available (e.g. CO, NO) and are known to result in Lewis acidic transition metal complexes. Polydentate ligands of this nature are relatively rare and offer a significant field of chemistry that remains largely unexplored. In this research program we intend to synthesize ligands with Pi-accepting functional groups such as nitriles and isonitriles, coordinate these ligands to transition metal ions, and explore the applications of the resultant complexes to organic catalysis.