professor Richard Ernst of the University of Utah will conduct research on the chemistry of metal-pentadienyl compounds with funding from the IBO program of the Chemsitry Division. Titanium will be the primary metal center, with other early-transition metal centers such as chromium and zirconium playing a secondary role. Coupling reactions of the coordinated pentadienyl ligands with unsaturated organic molecules can form organic rings, and they will be explored extensively by Ernst. Ligands containing two conjugated pentadienyl fragments (open fulvalenes) will also be studied for their ability to bind two metal centers; paramagnetic derivatives of such dinuclear compounds will be of interest because the conjugation should foster strong communication between the two metal centers. %%% Atoms of titanium and other metals will be attached to organic molecules containing five-membered carbon chains with two double bonds. By modifying the organic molecules in this way they can react with other organic molecules containing one double bond to form organic rings. Such ring-forming reactions will be investigated in some detail because of their potential as routes to complex organic products.
