In this project supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program, Dean M. Roddick of the University of Wyoming will synthesize transition metal complexes which contain perfluoralkyl tertiary phosphine ligands. These ligands are electron withdrawing and will render the metal and ancillary ligands of the complexes electron poor, which will lead to a new kind of chemical reactivity and new approaches to the activation of coordinated dinitrogen, for example. The coordination and reactivity of nitrogen is funda- mental in the process of "fixing" nitrogen from the atmosphere for useful purposes such as the production of fertilizer. The metal complexes may also have applications as catalysts for carbon-hydrogen bond activation, which is an important step in the conversion of hydrocarbons, especially methane, to more useful fuels such as methanol. The ligands employed will be 1,2-bis(diperfluoroalkylphosphino) ethane, primarily the perfluoroethyl compound, and analogous phosphines. The resulting electrophilic complexes of these ligands will then be investigated for hydrocarbon activation and dinitrogen coordination. One such complex formed, toluene- (dinitrogen)molybdenum(perfluoroalkylphosphine), and various analogues, will be examined for the electrophilic reactivity of the coordinated dinitrogen with nucleophiles such as organo- lithium and hydride reagents. The metals to be emphasized in these studies are chromium, molybdenum and tungsten. The syn- thetic studies on the perfluorophosphines will continue with the aim of finding more effective ligands.
