Dr. Richard D. Broene, Chemistry Department, Bowdoin College, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division under a Faculty Early Career Advancement Award for research into the synthesis of chiral cyclopentadienyl complexes of lanthanide metals and for restructuring Bowdoin College's chemistry laboratory courses in order to provide cross-boundary training for chemistry students. The research concentrates on a series of C-2 symmetric lanthanocene complexes, which will be prepared by selectively varying the substituents on tethered cyclopentadiene ligands. The ability of these compound to stereoselectively catalyze cyclizations and polymerizations of ketimine-olefin substrates will be evaluated. Within the educational portion of the project the introductory organic chemistry laboratory will be redesigned and a junior level comprehensive laboratory will be instituted in order to incorporate more active student participation and to provide students with a more realistic outlook on modern chemistry. An outreach program will be instituted in order to develop an interest in chemistry among precollege students. A goal in modern industrial and laboratory chemistry is the design of compounds which will effect very efficient, very specific chemical transformations. In this project a new series of complexes will be prepared. The shape of these compounds will be carefully designed so that they will induce the coupling or polymerization of small organic molecules in a fashion where one possible `mirror image` product is formed to the exclusion of the other. The educational portion of the project aims at providing a more realistic and visual introduction to various chemical concepts at the precollege, the lower, and the upper undergraduate levels.
