Standard syllabus
Organometallic chemistry intro · Undergraduate · Chemistry
Topics
Fundamentals of organometallic compounds
- Definition and classification of organometallic compounds
- 18-electron rule and electron counting
- Common ligand types: CO, phosphines, alkyls, aryls, η-ligands
- Oxidation states of transition metals in organometallics
- Coordination geometries in organometallic complexes
- Metal–carbon bond strengths and reactivity trends
- Nomenclature of organometallic compounds
- Stability and sensitivity: air, moisture, temperature
- Historical development: Zeise's salt to modern catalysis
- Overview of d-block organometallic chemistry
Key reactions and mechanisms
- Oxidative addition and reductive elimination
- Insertion reactions: migratory insertion, β-hydride elimination
- Nucleophilic attack on coordinated ligands
- Transmetalation in cross-coupling catalysis
- Ligand substitution in 16- and 18-electron complexes
- Associative vs dissociative substitution mechanisms
- Electron counting in catalytic cycles
- Role of ancillary ligands in tuning reactivity
- Spectator vs participating ligands
- Curved-arrow mechanisms for organometallic steps
Catalytic cycles and named reactions
- Wilkinson's catalyst: alkene hydrogenation
- Monsanto acetic acid process: rhodium-catalyzed carbonylation
- Hydroformylation: cobalt and rhodium catalysts
- Olefin metathesis: Grubbs catalysts (overview)
- Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling: Suzuki, Heck, Sonogashira
- Buchwald–Hartwig amination (introduction)
- Asymmetric hydrogenation with chiral phosphine ligands
- Ziegler–Natta and metallocene olefin polymerization
- Shilov system and C–H activation (overview)
- Industrial relevance of each catalytic process
Characterization and synthesis
- Synthesis under inert atmosphere: Schlenk techniques
- NMR of organometallics: fluxionality and dynamic behavior
- IR spectroscopy of metal–CO and metal–hydride stretches
- X-ray crystallography for structure determination
- Cyclic voltammetry of redox-active complexes
- Decomposition pathways and handling precautions
- Common starting materials: metal carbonyls, metal halides
- Ligand exchange and synthesis of phosphine complexes
- Scale-up considerations for organometallic reactions
- Green alternatives in organometallic catalysis
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