Cyanide is considered unreactive, like a halogen, however, under specific conditions it may behave as a non-innocent ligand, i.e., accept electrons (CN^2-). This non-innocence has not been investigated. We propose to answer the question: What are the guidelines where M-CN^- is reduced to “M-CN^2-“ character? We will study systems containing a cyanide protected by capping the ligand with a Lewis acid bound to the N atom of the cyanide ligand. Additionally, we plan to control the geometry of the dicyano complexes by creating a molecules that can bind to two cyanides, similar to how nature interacts with cyanide ligands.
DFG Programme
Research Grants