This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program provides continued support to Dr. Michael Lattman of the Chemistry Department, Southern Methodist University, for the investigation of main group elements with macrocycles, that is, large organic species which bind to the main group element through more than one atom. The macrocycles used in this project, calix(4)arenes, can bind through up to four oxygen atoms, imposing constraints which result in unusual types of bonding. For example, six coordinate compounds of phosphorus and silicon have been observed in these systems. The goal of this research is to prepare and characterize phosphorus and silicon compounds of this type, including the synthesis of clusters of the macrocyclic units. In some cases, silicon-transition metal bonds will be formed in the chain-links between the macrocyclic units. In other cases, transition metals may be able to be incorporated into cavities formed by the macrocycle as sterically adjusted by association with phosphorus or silicon. This fundamental research is primarily designed to test the bonding capabilities of silicon and phosphorus, but may result in improved understanding of the action of transition metals in shape selective catalysts or a new approach to catalyst design.
