9305492 Nolan With this award, the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program provides support for determining bond enthalpies of organometallic compounds by Dr. Steven P. Nolan of the Chemistry Department, University of New Orleans. Metal-hydride, metal-alkyl, metal-arene, metal-diene, metal-phosphine, and metal-metal bond energies of group 8 metals will be found using solution calorimetric methods. Special emphasis will be placed on iron and ruthenium complexes of interest in homogeneous catalysis. For example, tetracarbonyliron derivatives will be used in the determination of olefin-iron bond strengths and cyclopentadienylruthenium species will be used to investigate a series of diene-ruthenium bonds. Attempts will be made to determine bond strengths of ruthenium with heterocyclic compounds which are relevant to hydrodenitrogenation, hydrodesulfurization, and hydrosilation. %%% Thermodynamic data are fundamentally important for both theoretical and applied research in organometallic chemistry and catalysis, yet relatively little data are available on Group 8 organometallic bond strengths. Knowing the energetics of steps in a catalytic reaction is valuable for the development of new and more effective catalysts useful, for example, in hydroformylation or alkene isomerization reactions in the chemical industry. ***
