Researchers in Israel have uncovered a new compound which could clarify how intermediates operate in certain enzymes, catalytic transformations and industrial oxidation reactions.

David Milstein and his fellow workers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have formulated an elusive late-transition-metal oxo complex, whereby platinum is doubly bonded to oxygen.

After combining a pincer complex of platinum with dioxirane, the team found that the resulting complex was stable at room temperature, despite not possessing any electron-withdrawing ligands.

Commenting on the findings, which were published in the journal Nature, Craig L Hill, Emory University Chemistry Professor, said: "[The results] go a long way to substantiating the previous reports of platinum, palladium, and gold oxo complexes.

"This, in turn, makes it hard to argue that late-transition-metal oxo complexes don't exist, as might reasonably have been argued before on the basis of conventional wisdom about modes of bonding. On the contrary, it seems that they might be fairly widespread."

Professor Hill added that the complexes can now be viewed as realistic candidates for intermediates in a number of significant catalytic reactions which make use of oxygen.

The researchers were unable to secure a crystal structure of the complex, but they arrived at their conclusion by checking its viability through a range of analyses.



Source:

Compound is stable without electron-withdrawing ligands (27/10/08)
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i43/8643notw7.html