Plenary lectures presented at the XXth International Conference
on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC), Corfu, Greece, 7-12 July 2002
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Preface - SOME REMARKABLE ORGANOMETALLIC STRUCTURES
AND FUNCTIONS
There is a close analogy indeed between language and chemistry. Beautiful
pieces of literature have been created from a judiciously selected array
of words, which in turn result from a combination of the small number
of letters of the alphabet. Likewise, scientists using the universal
language of chemistry have been involved in the process of writing the
epos of chemistry. Toward this end, a chemist is often challenged by
the synthesis of an organometallic molecule remarkable for its novelty
and especially for the aesthetics of its structure. However, the same
chemist armed with substantial accumulated knowledge and the developed
theory, and also guided by his or her esoteric propensity to approach
“truth”, is now able to recognize that some of these structures
are capable of performing fascinating and technologically important
tasks or functions: For example, their presence in a reaction system,
usually in a minute quantity, can drive the reaction along often unexpected
pathways at great rates, leading to valuable products with a remarkable
specificity and efficiency. Without any exaggeration, organometallic
chemistry — through organometallic catalysis in general and transition-metal
catalysis in particular — is one of the main contributors to the
well-being of human society.
At the XXth International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry, chemists
approaching organometallic chemistry from all branches of chemistry
emerged from all over the world to tell and listen to interesting stories.
The present volume contains the six plenary lectures of the conference.
The reader will benefit from these articles written by prominent scientists
in the field of organometallic chemistry on subjects such as the synthesis
of organometallic compounds remarkable for their structure, useful for
clarifying theoretical matters, or for their use as “functional
compounds”. Grubbs et al . discuss the synthesis of novel olefin
metathesis catalysts, which, along with the pheronymous one, are applied
to the synthesis of coumarins. Thus, the synthesis of specially substituted
coumarins,unattainable by conventional synthetic methods, has been achieved.
Nakamura gives an account of the synthesis of a remarkable novel class
of organometallic compounds, the hybrid ferrocene/fullerenes. The achievement
is based on his recognition that a “pentakis-fulvenoid” and
a “tris fulvenoid” five-membered ring,respectively, of C60
and C70 fullerenes, can be converted to cyclopentadienyl rings, by an
appropriate multiple substitution. Crabtree’s contribution concerns
the relatively young category of nonphosphorus spectator ligands, the
N-heterocyclic carbenes of imidazolium ions. A number of important questions
are addressed and answered, leading to the design of robust catalytic
systems and, perhaps, to a better understanding of the structure of
certain metalloenzymes. Astruc, pointing out the almost unlimited potentials
of organometallics in activating molecules and in bond-forming reactions
as well as their role as functional materials, focuses his discussion
on functional metallodendrimers and other nanoscale functional organometallics.
Milstein’s chapter is a review of his numerous and impressive contributions
to bond activation via organometallic catalysis, including the rather
unusual catalytic methylene transfer and the novel class of metallaquinones.
Jutzi’s article refers to the synthesis of cyclopentadienyl p-block
elements and their bonding, although the article includes a lot of chemistry
of much broader interest and scope. New frontiers of transition-metal
chemistry seem to be opened up. Matters such as cyclopentadienyl compounds
of monovalent group 13 elements as ligands, tailor-made ligands starting
from silicon compounds, and ligand redistribution reactions are certainly
promising synthetic tools. All six articles touch upon almost every
important aspect of organometallic chemistry, providing pleasant reading
and a fertile ground for research. As for the future, let us recall
Plutarch’s philosophical question and answer: “Which is the
most necessary entity that leads to wisdom?” “Time ”!
(Past, present, and future). Indeed, wisdom means “knowledge of
truth”, and the human mind has been, is being, and will be involved
in a continuous search for Truth. Rejoice! More fascinating chemistry
should be expected in the years to come.
Constantinos G.Screttas
Conference Editor
International Advisory Committee:
A. Alexakis (Switzerland), I.P. Beletskaya (Russia), J.E. Bercaw (USA),
A.Berndt (Germany), P. Braunstein (France), F. Calderazzo (Italy), E.
Carmona (Spain), A.J. Carty (Canada), R.H. Crabtree (USA), P. Dixneuf
(France), C. Floriani (Switzerland), M.H. Garcia (Portugal), M. Gielen
(Belgium), A. Haaland (Norway), R.J. Haines (South Africa), W.C. Kaska
(USA), H. Kurosawa (Japan), J.A. McCleverty (UK), D. Milstein (Israel),
D.P.M. Mingos (UK), I.I. Moiseev (Russia), J.P. Oliver (USA), S. Özkar
(Turkey), M. Peruzzini (Italy), A. Pietrzykowski (Poland), C.T. Qian
(China), C.L. Raston (Australia), M.T. Reetz (Germany), W.R. Roper (New
Zealand), P. Royo (Spain), H. Schmidbaur (Germany), J. Schraml (Czech
Republic), U. Schubert (Austria), M. Tanaka (Japan), K. Vrieze (Netherlands).
