Fourier transform infrared spectrometer

鉴于目前对可持续性和有效利用自然资源（包括石油衍生的碳氢化合物）的重视，开发新型高反应性催化剂存在重大机会，这些催化剂能够提高现有化学工艺的效率，或者可以提供更少浪费的全新合成方案。特别是过渡金属催化剂已经上升到为现代合成化学的许多问题提供解决方案的挑战，因此，催化的大多数突破都植根于过渡金属反应性的基础研究。在这方面，Turculet组的研究目标是制备过渡金属配合物，这些配合物凭借其独特的结构表现出新的和/或改进的反应性能。Turculet小组专门针对过渡金属钳形络合物的新家族，其特征是形式上阴离子较重的主族元素供体（例如Si，P），并已成功地表明，这种类型的配合物在催化活性（例如酮的转移氢化）并且是高反应性的，如它们在温和条件下选择性地裂解烃和胺（分别）的C-H和N-H键的能力所示。这种复合物的表征和结构阐明在这项研究中起着至关重要的作用，因为它允许结构-活性分析，并有利于合理设计催化剂进行有针对性的化学转化。所要求的傅里叶变换红外（FT-IR）光谱仪将由合成化学研究人员（包括达尔豪西大学化学系的Turculet小组）持续使用，作为新的有机、无机和含过渡金属化合物的表征和结构分配的关键仪器。该仪器将提供关键数据，使研究人员能够拼凑对新分子和材料的结构和组成的理解，从而促进确定应对合成挑战的有效新策略。

Given the current emphasis on sustainability and the effective use of natural resources (including petroleum-derived hydrocarbons), significant opportunities exist for developing new types of highly reactive catalysts that are able to improve the efficiency of existing chemical processes, or that can provide access to entirely new synthetic protocols that are less wasteful. Transition metal catalysts in particular have risen to the challenge of providing solutions for many of the problems of modern synthetic chemistry, and as such, most breakthroughs in catalysis are rooted in the fundamental study of transition metal reactivity. In this context, research in the Turculet group targets the preparation of transition metal complexes that exhibit new and/or improved reactivity properties by virtue of their unique construction. The Turculet group is specifically targeting new families of transition metal pincer complexes that feature formally anionic heavier main group element donors (e.g. Si, P), and has successfully shown that complexes of this type are active in catalysis (e.g. transfer hydrogenation of ketones) and are highly reactive, as indicated by their ability to selectively cleave the C-H and N-H bonds of hydrocarbons and amines (respectively) under mild conditions. The characterization and structural elucidation of such complexes plays a crucial role in this research, as it allows for structure-activity analysis and facilitates the rational design of catalysts for targeted chemical transformations. The requested Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer will be employed on a continual basis by synthetic chemistry researchers, including the Turculet group, in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University as a key instrument for the characterization and structural assignment of new organic, inorganic, and transition metal-containing compounds. This instrumentation will provide crucial data that will enable researchers to piece together an understanding of the structure and composition of new molecules and materials, thereby facilitating the identification of effective new strategies for meeting synthetic challenges.