Chemistry is the science about breaking and forming of bonds between atoms. One of the most important
challenges of todays chemistry is the selective breaking of carbon-hydrogen bonding in combination with further
functionalization into useful products, especially in saturated and unreactive hydrocarbons like alkanes, the main
constituents of oil and natural gas.
The major goal of this project is the development and characterization of new ligands and their usage for the
preparation of new half sandwich complexes bearing hemilabile ligands like carbon monoxide or phosphines as
potential precursors for C-H activation reactions. The project consists of 3 major synthetic parts: 1. Synthesis of
new trisiminoborate ligands being sterically more demanding with possibly higher stabilizing power (compared to
established and nearly exclusively used pentamethylcyclopentadienyl and tripyrazolylborate systems). 2. Synthesis
of new carbonyl and/or carbonyl/phosphine containing mixed transition metal complexes (d9 metal rhodium
preferred) with reported dienyl and carborane ligands being both sterically more demanding in combination with
higher stabilizing capability. 3. Application of new complexes with tailored ligand design to stoichiometric C-H-
(detection and isolation of alkyl hydride complexes) and the extension to the most challenging catalytic C-H
activation with direct functionalization into synthetically useful products. The recent reported catalytic systems
highlight the potential of organometallic chemistry for useful C-H bond activation with far reaching economical
consequences that will ultimatively allow us to exploit Earths alkane resources more efficiently and cleanly.