With this New RUI award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the work of Dr. Jin K. Gong in the Department of Chemistry in South East Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The research will investigate the preparation, spectroscopic characterization, and reactions of ketene complexes of the late transition metals. It will emphasize understanding how changes in the other ligands affect the bonding mode of the ketene, which may be bound via its C=C or C=O double bond, but will also explore the preparation of ketenes from CO2 complexes of the transition metals. The work will involve undergraduate students in research in organometallic chemistry, give them experience in preparing and characterizing air sensitive ketene complexes, and provide valuable training for their future work in graduate school or industry.
