main group element catena of mixed p block elements

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Manfred Scheer
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 445322319

The enormous potential of hydrocarbons regarding their use e.g. in polymer chemistry raises the question as to the state-of-the-research on isoelectronic parent compounds of other chains of main group elements. Parent compounds of the pentels and triels (13/15-compounds) that are only hydrogen-substituted are direct congeners of the hydrocarbons that possess both similar and, due to their differences in reactivity, different properties in relation to hydrocarbons and are of interest as regards e.g. the build-up of inorganic polymers and for semiconductor technology (semiconductor layers). While, over the past decades, much research was done on Lewis base-stabilized 13/15 parent compounds with B/P-sequences, on the one hand, the step towards inserting the heavier elements of the triels and pentels, respectively, has not yet been taken considering the high instability of such compounds. On the other hand, only initial studies have so far been conducted in view of the incorporation of group 14 parent units (tetrels, except carbon), and, what is more, merely for the relatively light homolog Ge, which means that other homologs of the group such as silicon or tin have not yet been investigated. Due to this preparative shortcoming, the present project aims at synthesizing and characterizing first parent chain compounds of the pentelyltrielanes (13/15-compounds) with Sb and Bi as pentels or Al, Ga as triels and at the directed insertion of group 14 parent units (EH2-units; E = Si, Ge, Sn) in order to access unprecedented compounds of this class of substances. At the same time, this project differs from others that investigate organo-substituted ring or chain compounds. As regards the stabilization of these extremely unstable parent compounds, the concepts of donor-acceptor (DA) or donor only stabilization are utilized. All preparative work is accompanied by theoretical calculations (based on DFT) of the reaction paths of the expected products, including their transition states, stability, their decomposition and their electronic features. In a first step, the potential of these classes of substances is to be tested in view of their use as one-component precursors in CVD or ALD processes (for 13/15 and 13/14/15 semiconductor layers, respectively) as well as regarding the activation of small molecules and as ligands in catalysis especially for chiral derivatives in asymmetric catalysis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants