1. Kurstan L. H. Cunningham, Division of Natural Science, Chemistry,
The reactivity of phenanthroline derivatives towards lithium nucleophiles
Kurstan L. H. Cunningham, Division of Natural Science, Chemistry,
St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI
Our project aims to identify the optimum photochemistry of copper(I)
phenanthroline complexes by creating asymmetric steric congestion
around the copper(I) center seen in the figure to the right. Currently,
we have created a new synthesis for symmetric ligands using
a step-wise synthesis first designed to create asymmetric ligands.
We have found that having methyl groups along the phenanthroline backbone affects the reactivity of the 2 and 9 position towards the incoming nuclephile. A t-butyllithium reagent is sensitive to the sterics of the ligand while methyllithium is affected by the electronics of the ligand. Our next goal is to create the copper(I) complexes of these new ligands.