This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research on catalysts for silicon polymerization to be carried out by Dr. Joyce Y. Corey of the Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri-Saint Louis. She will develop improved organometallic compounds to promote coupling of hydrosilanes to form silicon-functional chains, rings, and polymers. Combination catalysts of dichlorobis(cyclopentadienyl)metal compounds, where the metal is Zr, Ti, or Hf, with butyl lithium have been used for this purpose, but control of chain length and structure have not been achieved. Corey will vary the structure of the catalyst as well as the metal used in order to target the synthesis of specific catenated compounds and, in the process, improve understanding of the catalytic requirements for dehydrocoupling. New types of monomers will also be used in the dehydrocoupling reactions to form novel oligomers and polymers. %%% Polymers formed from chains of silicon form a variety of materials which have potentially useful electronic properties. Some applications in photoconduction, microlithography, and photoinitiated polymerization of vinyl monomers have been reported. Manipulation of the properties of these materials will require synthetic methods which can control the length of the polymer chain, its shape, and the attachment of functional groups. Dr. Joyce Y. Corey will explore additional synthetic methods which control some of these factors in the formation of silicon polymers.
