Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg - "Alkaline-Earths for Small Molecule Activation"⠀ The alkaline-earth (Ae) metals receive rapidly growing attention as abundant and benign metals for catalysis. Although it is questionable whether they will ever re-place the more precious d-block metals, there is a growing body of evidence for tran-sition metal-like behaviour. This is especially true for the heavier low-valent Ae metal complexes (Ae = Ca, Sr, Ba). Recent contributions to low-valent Ae metal chemistry and activation of small molecules like H2, N2 and CO2 will be presented and the po-tential, but controversial, contribution of <I>d</I>-orbitals will be discussed.
Universität Bonn - "Valence State Distribution and Mixed Valency in Ruthenium Complexes with Redox Sensitive Ligands"⠀ Synthesis of polynuclear metal complexes which can exhibit strong intermetallic electronic coupling across the bridge in the mixed valent state is a formidable challenge. Later, the focus has been shifted to the application potential of mixed-valent systems for molecular electronics. In this regard, a wide variety of mixed valent poly-ruthenium complexes have been designed using selective bridging and ancillary functionalities. Ruthenium complexes have been chosen due to their suitability and extended history for valence exchange in coordination chemistry. Our systematic approaches beyond the conventional systems by using sophisticated ligands and by creating more variegated coordination patterns have demonstrated the following fun-damental points: (i) Metal-ligand cooperativity chemistry could bring the structural miscellany in the substrate backbone. ...
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) - "Silicon and barium chemistry with a bulky carbazolyl ligand"⠀ Sterically demanding ligands have been employed to stabilise low-coordinate envi-ron-ments for elements throughout the periodic table. The Hinz group has developed such a ligand on basis of the carbazole scaffold which allowed the synthesis of the first base-free halosilylenes. Since then, their reactivity towards small molecules and transition metal complexes has been studied. This enabled insight into the distinct behaviour of base-stabilised and base-free halosilylenes. As soluble hydride complexes of the heavy alkaline earth elements are still rare and frequently are stabilised by sterically demanding ligands, we recently initiated efforts towards synthesising such hydride complexes with the bulky carbazolyl ligand.
