This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program supports a project to synthesize and characterize new transition metal complexes containing cyclic trialkyne (cyclotriyne) ligands. The work will be carried out in the Chemistry Department of the University of Akron by Dr. Wiley J. Youngs and Dr. Claire A. Tessier. Previous work by these investigators has demonstrated the feasibility of preparing these compounds and semiconducting properties have been noted in some cases. Production of thermally stable conducting and semiconducting materials is a potential outcome of the expanded research project planned. First, cyclotriyne derivatives which can "tune" the electronic properties of the metal-ligand complexes or permit binding of larger metals in the ligand cavity will be prepared. It is anticipated that metals will bind to these ligands in a variety of modes. The structural and electronic properties of the compounds will be determined and their interaction with small molecules investigated.
