The first part of this research will involve the development of a strategy for endo carbon-carbon bond formation that involves functional group manipulation at the metal center of (cycloheptadienyl)M(halide), where M is Fe or Ru. Conversion of the halide ligand to an appropriate organic group followed by reductive elimination will complete the functionalization. The second goal of the research will be to study the chemistry of carbanions stabilized by Fe(CO)3 and CpCo. The organometallic anions described are mild nucleophiles that will allow carbon-carbon bond formation with acyl and/or alkyl halides and BF3 activated carbonyl compounds. %%% With this Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) award, the Synthetic Organic Program will support the research of Dr. Gregory M. Williams of the Department of Chemistry at California State University, Fullerton. The work is focused on two major areas, each of which will expand the utility of transition metal polyolefin complexes as precursors to natural products. In these areas, the attack of electron rich species on coordinated polyoefins and the chemistry of transition metal stabilized carbanions will be used for developing new ways to affect carbon-carbon bond formation.
