Date of Graduation

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Chemistry

Committee Chair

Brian V Popp

Committee Co-Chair

Carsten Milsmann

Committee Member

Bjorn C Soderberg

Abstract

The reactivity of transition metal complexes is greatly affected by the complex structure and the nature of the coordinated ligands. Ambiphilic ligands, a class of molecule termed a frustrated Lewis pair that possesses non-interacting functional groups of both Lewis acidic and basic character, are of particular interests few reports of their application to organometallic catalysis have emerged and their full potential has not been achieved. Exploring the bi-functionality and the potential applications of such ligand frameworks with group IX transition metals with phosphino--borane (Ph2PCH 2CH2BBBN) complexes resulted in interesting reactivity. When treated with bases such as silver or lithium reagents, the metal-FLP ligated complexes generated four-membered metallacycles for the group IX metal series. NMR experiments were used to characterize such structures, and the synthesis and characterization of these metallacycles are discussed herein.

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