This Research Planning Grant under the Research Opportunities for Women initiative is in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program. The funds provided will allow Dr. Maureen J. Kendrick of the University of Alabama to plan a research project in which the active sites of molybdenum containing enzymes would be modelled. Preliminary data will be obtained on the synthesis and characterization of a series of molybdo- and tungsten-pterin mononuclear complexes as synthetic analogs of molybdo-pterin sites in molybdoenzymes. The planning activities will include an extensive literature search and consultation with an experienced organic chemist in the area of heterocyclic chemistry, as well as a study of the synthesis, solubility, stability and other chemical properties of the modified pterin ligands.