Greening the Inorganic Lab

A synthesis experiment for the upper level inorganic lab that rapidly produces Group VI carbonyl complexes by combining microwave energy and phase transfer catalysis (PTC) was developed. In this lab students synthesize several group VI carbonyl complexes of the type M(CO)4L2, where L2= dppm, dppe, dppp, 2PPh3; and M= Mo, W using a phase transfer catalyst in a microwave. Several additional learning objectives include: 1) how green chemistry principles are applied in this synthesis; 2) how to use multinuclear NMR (1H, 31P) and IR spectroscopy for structure determination in organotransition metal chemistry; and 3) how solvent effects are important in microwave synthesis.