Full-Collision and Half-Collision Studies of the Dynamics of Model C-H Bond Activation Processes

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

Professor William Breckenridge of the University of Utah is supported by the Experimental Physical Chemistry program to perform experiments on the activation of C-H bonds in gaseous clusters containing metal centers. This proposal seeks to discover mechanisms by which C-H bond breaking occurs in gas phase clusters mimicking two situations: side-on interactions of metal electrons with C-H bonds as would occur in organometallic compounds, and C-H bond activation on the surfaces of metal oxides. The clusters will be studied using various laser probes such as laser-induced fluorescence, and multiphoton ionization spectroscopy. The problem of structure and dynamics in simple metal-hydrocarbon systems is made quite relevant in this proposal by the comparison to real world problems in catalysis. The breaking of C-H bonds is of great interest in a variety of important technological processes such as hydrocarbon cracking, catalysis, synthesis of chemicals from natural gas, hydrogenation and organic synthesis.