This Platinum-Germylene complex, containing both three-coordinate
Pt and Ge, undergoes reversible reactions with dihydrogen and carbon dioxide
as indicated below.
This Platinum-Germylene complex, containing both three-coordinate
Pt and Ge, undergoes reversible reactions with dihydrogen and carbon dioxide
as indicated below.
The metal germylenes form metallacycles with a number of substrates and undergo further insertion reactions to make interesting heteroatom rings. Much of this work is summarized in the scheme below. This work was published in JACS 1998, 120, 7484-7492 and Inorganic Chemistry 1998, 37, 6461-6469.
More recently, we have discovered that germylenes are
capable of intermolecular C-H insertion reactions. Specifically,
they react with the a-CH bonds of nitriles as
shown in the scheme below (JACS 2001,
123, 982-983).
We have also made a very interesting discovery in the area of phenone activation. Germylenes can quantitatively and quickly convert the phenone functional group to a conjuated triene. We are working to exploit this reaction in the arena of organic synthesis. An ORTEP diagram from the X-ray crystal structure analysis of germylene bound to propiophenone is shown below. This work was published as a series of papers in Organometallics. (2002, 21, 457-459; 2003, 22, 4613-4615; 2003, 22, 3222-3229).
The current focus of our organometallic research involves CH-activation leading to the direct formation of Ge or Sn bonds and the subsequent use of these materials for synthetic applications.
