9322490 Grimes University of Virginia Dr. Russell N. Grimes, Chemistry Department, University of Virginia, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program for the planned synthesis and study of selected families of structurally novel organometallic complexes which are stabilized by small carborane ligands. The research is divided into two general sections. The first is the development of new synthons from which carborane-based transition metal sandwich complexes can be assembled into extended multi-decker sandwich compounds and polymers. The second area is the development of small carboranes and early transition-metal complexes derived from them as stoichiometric reagents for organometallic reactions and as catalysts for ring-opening and Ziegler-Natta polymerization. In each of these studies air stable systems will be sought. Polymers which incorporate multimetallic monomers with unique properties have the potential of providing new electronic materials. To produce new materials whose electronic and magnetic properties can be tailored, air-stable polymers in which small units, consisting of a few metals sandwiched between rings of boron and carbon atoms, will linked into a variety of extended structures. A selection of the compounds will also be developed as air-stable catalysts for industrially important polymerization processes.
