METAL-METAL MULTIPLE BONDS IN EARLY/LATE HETEROBIMETALLIC COMPLEXES: APPLICATIONS TOWARD SMALL MOLECULE ACTIVATION AND CATALYSIS

A versatile phosphinoamide ligand scaffold that supports the combination of early and late transition metals into a single framework has been utilized to better understand the fundamental nature of metal-metal interactions in early/late heterobimetallic complexes using both experimental and theoretical (DFT) methods. Through these metal-metal interactions the redox potential and ability to activate small molecule substrates can be tuned. The key feature of these complexes in comparison to previously reported early/late heterobimetallics is the hemilability of the phosphino(amide) linkers that allow substrates to access the highly polar metal-metal bond.