The far-reaching applications of alkali and alkaline earth (A/Ae) metals have led to a resurgence in their investigation over the past few decades. Recently, A/Ae metals have been studied as potential Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) precursors, which are commonly used in the manufacturing of electronics. Ideal MOCVD precursors are highly volatile and cleanly sublime; however, one of the main challenges is that the large A/Ae metal centers exhibit extensive aggregation behavior, and subsequently, low volatility and solubility. To circumvent this issue, the presence of non-covalent metal-ligand interactions from sterically bulky ligands and sometimes additional neutral co-ligands can saturate the coordination sphere of the metal center–effectively decreasing aggregation and increasing the volatility and solubility. In an effort to synthesize new MOCVD precursors, the target pincer ligand, 2,5-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazolylmethyl)pyrrole has been synthesized using modified literature procedures with increased yield. The target pincer ligand, which has previously only been complexed to lithium and palladium, makes use of a strong M-N pyrrole bond, in addition to M-N pyrazole and M-π secondary interactions. Extensive coordination studies involving a range of alkali and alkaline earth metals will be presented.

Synthesis of alkali and alkaline earth metal-NNN pincer complexes

255th National Meeting (2018)

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