Bodipy-tagged ligands for transition metal complexes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Herbert Plenio
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280718014

The overall target of this project is to utilize fluorescence-based methods, which are well established in biochemistry and molecular biology, for new applications in organometallic chemistry and in homogeneous catalysis aiming for the elucidation of mechanistic steps. This requires the synthesis of Bodipy-fluorophore tagged organometallic complexes. The fluorescence light emitted from the respective excited complexes should provide information on the metal complexes and on characteristic changes in the coordination sphere following chemical reactions.Three sub-projects are envisaged: a) fluorogenic reactions of Crabtree-type catalysts with hydrogen; b) the observation of the formation of dinuclear metal complexes tagged with complementary fluorophores following decomposition or deactivation reactions of the active species during homogeneous catalysis; c) the observation of ion pairing of cationic organometallic complexes and the respective anions by again using complementary fluorophore tagged ions. Complementary means that two different fluorophores are utilized, which form a FRET-pair upon close spatial association. Consequently, a FRET-signal is only observed when this condition is met and this FRET-signal then provides direct information on pair-formation reactions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants