With this award, the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports continued research on transition metal complexes as catalysts for organic oxidation reactions by Dr. Thomas J. Meyer of the Chemistry Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Electrochemical and photochemical methods will be used to effect and to investigate the mechanism of the reactions. The goal of the project is to design selective catalytic reagents using oxo polypyridyl complexes of ruthenium or osmium. New dioxo and ligand-bridged systems will be synthesized and tested for stereospecificity. Nitrido and imido analogues of the oxo complexes will also be prepared and investigated for oxidation activity. Thin polymeric films of promising materials will be adhered to electrodes to test their potential as sensors. Aldehydes and aromatic hydrocarbons undergo oxidation when an oxygen atom is added to them directly to form acids and alcohols, respectively. Such reactions are important in making new organic compounds. In order to develop reagents that will effect these reactions in a manner in which the products desired can be obtained, it is important to understand the details of the reactions. In this investigation, the exact pathway of reactions in which metal complexes provide an oxygen atom will be determined.
