This award to a Primarily Undergraduate Institution will support research in the general area of organometallic chemistry. The award will permit the participation of four undergraduates in the synthesis of new compounds which may be useful as homogeneous catalysts for structural transformations of organic compounds. The undergraduate participants will gain experience in the use of a number of essential spectroscopic tools, such as nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy. The focus of the research project is the chemical reactivity patterns of iron pentadienyl species, with specific emphasis on transformations at the metal center. The development of stereocontrolled carbon-carbon bond forming reactions is the central theme of the research. The four specific goals of the project are: 1. To define the fundamental mechanistic differences between the pentadienyl ligand and its two isoelectronic counterparts, cyclopentadienyl and pi-allyl; 2. To develop new synthetic routes to metal pentadienyl complexes which contain ancillary ligands other than neutral two-electron donors; 3. To develop the first general procedures for selective endo substitution of (polyolefin)metal complexes; 4. To provide the first general and versatile methods for functionalizing metal(polyolefin) complexes with electrophiles.
