RUI: Chemistry at the Interface Between Computation and Experiment: Chiral Recognition using Novel Organometallic Complexes

University Of North Carolina At Wilmington, Wilmington NC

Investigators

Abstract

David P. White, Chemistry Department, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program for his work on chiral recognition by organometallic complexes. The project incorporates molecular modeling, computational and synthetic approaches to better understand stereoselective prochiral olefin binding to [(eta-5-C5H4R)Re(CO)(L)(NO)]+ complexes (R = Me, t-Bu, SiMe3, CPh3; L=PMe3, PMe2Ph, PMePh2, PPh3). This award is made under the Research at Undergraduate Institutions Program (RUI) and emphasizes the training of undergraduate researchers in the complementary tools of synthesis and computation. This work on substituted cyclopentadienyl complexes of rhenium may also lead to better routes for enantioselective hydrogenation of olefins and other chiral transformations.