Transition metals, dithiocarbamate complexes applications

This chapter is aimed at inorganic chemists and as such it focuses on the synthesis, properties, and reactivity of transition metal dithiocarbamate complexes. A flavor of the established and potential applications of each metal type is given in Section IV, but space restrictions nessetate that their applications in analytical chemistry and the agricultural industry (27), together with their widespread biological applications (45—48) are not fully developed. 

The thermochemistry of dithiocarbamate complexes is of considerable interest, primarily since they can be used as molecular precursors for the synthesis of a range of technologically important metal sulfides, especially those of copper and zinc (see Sections III.H.l.g.ii and III.I.Lh.i). The successful application of this approach relies on the volatility of the metal complexes and the strength of the metal-sulfur and metal-carbon bonds since the latter must be cleaved, while the former is retained (at least to some extent). Consequently, a large number of studies have focused on the thermochemical properties of transition metal dithiocarbamate complexes and HiU and co-workers (22, 562, 563) and others (23, 564) reviewed aspects of these. 

From these early studies, dithiocarbamates and their transition metal complexes soon found a host of applications. For example, as a result of their insoluble nature they are widely used in inorganic analysis (3,4). They can also be used to separate different metal ions by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (5-10) and capillary gas chromatography (GC) (11, 12), and find use as rubber vulcanization accelerators (13), fungicides (14), and pesticides (15). Concomitant with the development of these applications came a burgeoning interest in their general transition metal chemistry and the characteristics and properties of the complexes formed. 

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