Microwave Spectroscopy Measurements of Structures and Electronic Properties of Transition Metal Complexes

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Stephen Kukolich of the University of Arizona is supported by a grant from the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to continue his studies of transition metal complexes. The objectives are to determine structures and make measurements of quadrupole coupling constants and dipole moments for: (1) transition metal dihydrogen and dihydride complexes; (2) olefin-metal and cyclopentadienyl-metal complexes; (3) dinuclear transition metal complexes; (4) model compounds for reactions involved in olefin oxidation and possibly (5) a few organometallic radicals. The studies will be carried out in a pulsed molecular beam using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. They have the advantage over previously used X-ray techniques that they can locate the positions of hydrogen atoms in the molecules. The data will be useful for testing theory, which requires gas phase data rather than that obtained in solution and is not well developed for this type of compound. The studies will provide detailed information about the structures and properties of transition metal complexes. These complexes represent an important branch of chemistry from a fundamental point of view and have important applications to the chemical industry as catalysts and in biological systems such as the active sites of enzymes and proteins in living systems.