In this project supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program, Richard D. Adams of the University of South Carolina will investigate the synthesis, structures, bonding and reactivity of new heteronuclear tran- sition metal carbonyl cluster compounds. Transition metal cluster compounds may be models for metal surfaces which are catalytically active and the platinum containing clusters, which are the principal thrust of this work, may be related to conventional petroleum reforming catalysts. The synthesis of the platinum clusters will involve the reaction of bis(cyclooctadiene)platinum(O) with various metalcarbonyls of iron, ruthenium, osmium, molybdenum and tungsten. Chiral clusters will be synthesized which contain, for example, three different metals and a sulfur in a tetrahedral structure, and the behavior of these compounds as stereospecific catalysts will be investigated. X-ray crystallography will be used to structurally characterize the new compounds.
