Ligands, transition-metal oxidation

In 1990, Schroder and Schwarz reported that gas-phase FeO" " directly converts methane to methanol under thermal conditions [21]. The reaction is efficient, occuring at 20% of the collision rate, and is quite selective, producing methanol 40% of the time (FeOH+ + CH3 is the other major product). More recent experiments have shown that NiO and PtO also convert methane to methanol with good efficiency and selectivity [134]. Reactions of gas-phase transition metal oxides with methane thus provide a simple model system for the direct conversion of methane to methanol. These systems capture the essential chemistry, but do not have complicating contributions from solvent molecules, ligands, or multiple metal sites that are present in condensed-phase systems. 

Using the results of an earlier study concerning enantioselective copper-catalyzed intramolecular C—H insertion of metal carbenoids,109 an interesting system for optimizing the proper combination of ligand, transition metal, and solvent for the reaction of the diazo compound (75) was devised (see Scheme 19).110 The reaction parameters were varied systematically on a standard 96-well microtiter/filtration plate. A total of five different ligands, seven metal precursors, and four solvents were tested in an iterative optimization mode. Standard HPLC was used to monitor stereoselectivity following DDQ-induced oxidation. This type of catalyst search led to the... 

Coordinative unsaturation arises from the fact that because of steric and electronic reasons, only a limited number of ligands or nearest neighbors can be within bonding distance of a metal atom or ion. In most transition metal oxides, the oxygen anions in the bulk form closed-packed layers and the metal cations occupy holes among the anions as schematically depicted in Fig. 2.1. In this picture, the oxide ion ligands appear to have saturated the coordination sphere of the bulk cation. 

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. This is also known as electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy and is the electron analogue of NMR. In the case of EPR, however, the magnetic moment is derived from unpaired electrons in free radical species and transition metal ions. The paramagnetism of many transition metal oxidation states has already been mentioned as a drawback to the observation of their NMR spectra, but it is the raison d etre behind EPR the technique is thus limited, in the case of metals, to those which are paramagnetic or which have free radicals as ligands. 

Electronic surface states are responsible for adsorptive and catalytic processes occurring at the surfaces of solids. Therefore, the catalytic behavior of the simple transition metal oxides such as NiO and CoO (Section I V.F) led to extensive experimental and theoretical investigations of the corresponding 3d surface states (115, 275-283). Whereas the role of d-n overlap is quite modest in the Ni2+ CO surface complexes, the same does not necessarily hold for the Ni2+ NO complexes formed upon interaction of NiO(OOl) with the stronger n-acceptor NO ligand. This is shown by the formation of... 

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