A major trend of the chemical industry today is the practice of “greener” chemistry, including the reduction of waste. One simple mechanism to support the efforts of green chemistry is the use of organometallic catalysts. The purpose of this work is to coordinate the tridentate pincer ligand 2,5-bis(diethylaminomethyl)pyrrole (py-NNN-Et) to a metal center such as nickel, palladium, or ruthenium. Thus far we have strategically varied reaction conditions including metal precursor, solvent, and use of base in an attempt to synthesize products of the form M(pyr-NNN-Et)Cl (M=Ni, Pd, Ru). Crude reaction products have been analyzed primarily by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy (1H, 13C, 31P), and purification via recrystallization is underway. Next, single crystal X-ray diffraction will be performed to confirm the coordination mode of the ligand and molecular geometry of the product. Square planar group 10 metal complexes are known to be proficient catalysts for the direct hydrogenation of cyclic ketones to form alcohols, which would be a specific reaction, amongst other common organic chemistry transformations, in which our resulting catalysts would be evaluated. Ultimately, this work will impact the advancement of an eco-friendly field of chemistry.
