Zirconium zig-zag: From organometallic to organo-metallic chemistry

ORGN 6

Jeffrey Schwartz, Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1009
Attempts to prepare heavily coordinatively unsaturated analogs of Cp2Zr complex systems led to the investigation of oxide-surface bound analogs, in which surface attachment could prevent clustering that might otherwise occur in solution. Simple mechanistic probes indicated that formation of such surface Zr complexes from the vapor phase was accomplished best using alkoxide precursors. Recently, it has been of interest to attach biomolecules to reactive surfaces, and we find that surface-bound Zr complexes can play a crucial role as "linkers". The formation of a reactive surface onto which such Zr complexes can be "printed", the chemistry of the resulting complexes, and their utility for biomolecule surface conjugation will be described.