This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program is to support research by Dr. Dorothy H. Gibson of the Chemistry Department, University of Louisville, for studies of bimetallic complexes of late transition metals. Complexes bridged by small oxycarbon ligands, such as dioxymethylene, and carbon dioxide, will be synthesized and characterized. These complexes are models for species which have been suggested as intermediates in catalytic conversions of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide to ethylene glycol, acetaldehyde, and other oxygenated products. The synthesis will be followed by studies of the reactions of the bimetallic compounds, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and formaldehyde insertion reactions, reaction with electrophiles, and thermolysis reactions. Crystallographic structures will be determined where possible. %%% Although "syngas", a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, has long been been processed commercially to produce hydrocarbons and oxygen-containing organic compounds using catalytic methods, the details of the processes are not completely understood. The catalysts used contain cobalt, iron, ruthenium and other transition metals. Because it is desirable to have more control over the distribution of products and to effect the conversions at lower temperatures, it is important to probe the details of this chemistry in order to develop improved or alternative methods. In this project, some bimetallic compounds which been suggested as models for intermediates in the production of ethylene glycol and related products will be prepared and characterized with the goal of understanding the factors which affect their reactivity.
