Catalytic Activation and Oxidation of C-H Bonds by Soluble Platinum Compounds

This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program provides continued support for research by Dr. Ayusman Sen of the Chemistry Department, Pennsylvania State University, concerning the oxidation of carbon-hydrogen bonds. Sen has found that unactivated C-H bonds are attacked selectively by Pt(II) complexes, whereas Pt(0) activates C-H bonds alpha to oxygen or nitrogen. He proposes to study the mechanistic details of the system in order to characterize the C-H activation step, the structure and reactivity of the intermediate organometallic species, the types of cooxidants that could make the system catalytic, and the origins of the selectivity. %%% A variety of organic compounds, such as alkanes, ethers, and alcohols, can be oxidized in aqueous solution under mild conditions by platinum (II). This potentially very useful reaction for organic synthesis is not well understood. Sen will carry out a detailed investigation of how the reaction proceeds in order to discover how it can be made to react with specific carbon-hydrogen bonds in a system that contains many carbon-hydrogen bonds. The results have utility in the chemical manufacturing industry, both for the production of large scale and specialty products.