A Physical Organic Approach to the Study of Organometallic Reaction Mechanisms

ORGN 4

Robert Bergman, Chemistry, Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
Abstract: For several years after the discovery of ferrocene, and the subsequent rapid expansion of research activity in organotransition metal chemistry and homogeneous catalysis, the field was characterized primarily by synthetic, exploratory and structural investigations. Inspired by advances that occurred in physical organic chemistry in the 1950's and 1960's, investigators began to apply techniques that had become common in the study of organic reaction mechanisms to the (often more complicated) mechanisms of organometallic transformations. This address will cite several examples of such studies that have been carried out in our group over the years.