This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry program provides continued support to Dr. Jack R. Norton of the Chemistry Department, Colorado State University, for research on the acidity and strength of transition metal hydride bonds. Specific projects include identifying the intermediate in acidification reactions of binuclear complexes; determining the relative hydride donor abilities of various transition metal hydrides; determining the site of protonation of dinitrogen and related ligands; and investigating the mechanism of acid cleavage of alkyl ligands from zirconocene and of the palladium-catalyzed coupling of aryl iodides with organotin. %%% Transition metal hydride complexes are important intermediates in many catalytic processes, such as the hydrogenation and polymerization of olefins and hydroformylation reactions. Although these studies are fundamental, they are expected to provide information important to understanding catalytic activity.
