1. Ferrocene based Polymers

Collaborators: Tom Rauchfuss (University of Illinois) and Eric Johnston (University of North Carolina-Greensboro)

Organometallic polymers, Figure I, contain many promising properties. Ferrocene is one of the first known organometallic compounds, and it has been polymerized by using one of the most common polymer connecting groups, i.e., the -S-S- or persulfide groups. This connecting group is common in the vulcanization of rubber, made popular by Charles Goodyear, and contains the same sulfur bonds broken and remade in the process of perming hair.

In order to make a better non-linear optical (NLO) material it is being proposed that this polymer, with more polarizing groups will yield such a material. This may be accomplished by the transmetallation of the ferrocene molecule with sulfur and phosphorus. Work is in progress to obtain such a polymer.

Chiral catalysts are sought for drugs, pesticides, pheromones, and fragrances. A tiny amount of a catalytic chiral reagent can yield large quantities of chiral product. Oftentimes, chiral centers are located at a phosphorus atom in the catalyst. Also, ferrocenyl systems have shown to be effective catalysts such as the diphenylphosphinoferrocene (dppf) ligand on Pd which catalyzes carbonylative coupling and cyclization yielding skeletons of biologically active isoflavanones and aurones. We wish to incorporate the chirality that phosphorus offers onto the ferrocenyl system. To date, very few chiral ferrocenylphosphines exist. The molecule shown below has been synthesized in our lab. The potential exists for unique bonding between the P atoms and other metals due to the adjacent N atom and its lone pair. There may be an enhanced catalytic reactivity with these ligands. These studies are ongoing.

Collaborators: Spiro Alexandratos (University of Tennessee-Knoxville) and
David Butcher (Western Carolina University)

Heavy metal waste in General and Inorganic Chemistry labs has, and will continue to be a problem for those in academia. Qualitative Analysis schemes in General Chemistry can be used to reduce the amount of metal waste in solution to limit the expense incurred by the institution. Using principles from the Qualitative Analysis scheme, precipitation as sulfides and/or hydroxides has lowered the concentrations of ten metals considered to be toxic by the EPA. The results we have obtained to date are relevant to industry as this generic procedure is common in their minimization of metal concentration.