Synthetic and Thermodynamic Investigations of Ancillary Ligand Influence on Catalytic Organometallic Systems. Final Report

During the grant period we have been involved in synthesizing and experimentally determining solution enthalpy values associated with partially fluorinated ligands. This has lead to the publication of manuscripts dealing with synthetic, calorimetric and catalytic behavior of partially fluorinated ligands. The collaboration with Los Alamos researchers has lead to the publication of catalytic results in sc CO{sub 2} which have proven very interesting. Furthermore, we have also examined ligands that behave as phosphine mimics. The N-heterocyclic carbenes have been explored as alternatives for tertiary phosphines and have resulted in the design and construction of efficient palladium and nickel system capable of performing C-C and C-N cross coupling reactions. The initial studies in this areas were made possible by exploratory work conducted under the DOE/EPSCoR grant