Preparation and Study of Highly Reactive Metal Powders

摘要

We recently discovered that highly reactive metal powders can be prepared by the reduction of metal salts from ethereal or hydrocarbon solvents. Common reducing agents are potassium, sodium, lithium, or other reducing agents of high enough potential. The reduction yields the metal in a finely divided state. Metals studied to date exhibit far supersonic reactivity towards organic and inorganic substrates to that described in the literature for these metals. We recently have shown that this approach will work with transition metals including nickel, palladium, platinum, cobalt, iron, and uranium. We proposed to study the chemistry of these highly reactive metals. We wished to examine these metals in a variety of oxidative-insertion reactions, preparation of zero-valent derivatives, and catalytic reactions. Several new organo-metallic complexes with potential catalytic activity were proposed.