| dc.description.abstract | There have been 118 elements discovered which can combine to form thousands of different molecules with many different properties. Metalloids are very important elements, because they contain properties of both metals and nonmetals. Germanium is a metalloid that has historically found many uses, including the increasingly important use in organometallic complexes used for bond activation. In order to evaluate Germanium's ability to activate bonds, we looked at triphenyl germanium hydride. This molecule contained many of the important properties, including sterically bulky ligands, which make it a successful organometallic compound. This compound was found to successfully activate the increasingly important carbon to fluorine bonds found in benzoyl fluoride, as well as a variety of fluorinated aromatic compounds. These reactions followed different mechanisms, though. With benzoyl fluoride, triphenyl germanium hydride was paired with a weakly-coordinating anion (WCA) in order for a Lewis acid mechanism to take place. With the aromatic compounds, 1,1-Azobiscyclohexanecarbonitrile (AHCN) was used for a free-radical polymerized reaction to occur. By understanding how these reactions successfully took place, we can evaluate other bond types and reactions that can be activated by the tri-phenyl germanium complex. Some of the explored bonds in this paper include: amide bond activation through the Lewis acid mechanism, and carbon to hydrogen bond activation via the radical pathway or through the altering of bond orbitals and polarity. | |
