A considerable amount of organic synthesis is also required for construction of the organic backbones of the phosphorus-containing molecules. Students in our group have prepared and characterized a unique compound in which osmium is bound simultaneously to four nitrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. Current work is focused on a new and improved method for preparation of the diamine that is used in the synthesis, and investigation of further coordination chemistry of the diamine and ligands prepared from it. A project to expand this chemistry to include other high-valent transition metal comounds will be initiated in the near future. This project is an exploration of the effects on the regioselectivity of alkylation of acenaphthene, catalyzed by various Lewis acids.
Solvent effects are also under study.
The ultimate goal of the project is preparation of variously substituted naphthalic anhydrides by oxidation of t -alkylated acenaphthenes. We hope to design a synthesis of this analog of phenytoin, a drug for the treatment of Parkinson's-Disease, for use in affinity chromatography. This is a collaborative project with John Lammert and his students in the Gustavus Adolphus Biology department. We are preparing cyclialkylated products of phenol so as to elucidate the structures of the products that are formed under conditions of catalytic oxidation. One of the most spectacular and intriguing chemical discoveries ever made is the very recent discovery of a new allotrope of carbon.