This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research by Professor Philip Power of the University of California at Davis to synthesize and characterize new main group compounds that are protected and stabilized by modified terphenyl ligands. This research investigates the fundamental characteristics of element-element bonding in compounds such as borylenes (univalent, monomeric organoboron(I) compounds), diborenes and dialuminenes with putative double bonds, and disilynes with silicon-silicon triple bonds. The structures, bonding and chemistry of the new compounds will be examined by multinuclear and dynamic NMR UV-Vis, IR, EPR and X-ray crystallography in order to correlate bonding and electronic changes that are difficult to describe in traditional terms of valency, orbital overlap, hybridization and bond order.
This research will advance the fundamental understanding of the bonding of the main group elements including silicon, boron, aluminum and gallium. Graduate students, undergraduate students and postdoctoral associates will receive excellent training and research experiences in a forefront synthetic inorganic chemistry program.
