Jennifer Gifford

Synthesis and Characterization of Transition Metal Polyhydride Complexes

Our goal is to synthesize rhenium polyhydride complexes of the type [ReH₇(L₂)] where L = DPEphos, biphep and xantphos. Thus far, the necessary precursors – [ReOCl₃(DPEphos)], [ReOCl₃(biphep)] and [ReOCl₃(xantphos)] – have been synthesized and characterized using infrared spectroscopy, as well as phosphorus and proton NMR spectroscopy. Further research will focus on the synthesis of the rhenium polyhydride complexes from the three precursors and characterization of the polyhydride structures using variable-temperature ¹H NMR spectroscopy.