Dr. John R. Bleeke of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program to continue studies on pentadienyl-metal-phosphine complexes. Bleeke has developed a route to prepare metallabenzenes from pentadienyl-metal precursors and plans to prepare numerous compounds of this type. This will enable detailed studies of these novel compounds, including investigation of ring substitution reactions, ring insertion reactions, and coordination of the metallabenzenes to other metal centers. In addition, Bleeke will attempt to use pentadienyl-metal- phosphine complexes to activate C-H and N-H bonds. Addition of more than one substrate molecule to the metal may be possible if ring slippage of cyclopentadiene occurs. In a third project, nucleophilic attack at the internal carbons of bound pentadienyl groups to produce optically active products will be investigated. The results promise to be of fundamental interest and are relevant to some selective catalytic processes.
