The theme of the lecture concerns the often subtle effects of London dispersion (LD) energies on the structures, stability and reactivity of main group and transition metal molecules that have sterically crowded hydrocarbon ligands. It is shown that such effects are vital for the stability of several transition metal alkyls, main group 14 element dimetallenes or dimetallynes (heavier analogs of alkenes or alkynes) as well as related group 13 metal species. In many cases it is the LD effects that have enabled the isolation of many of the new species. It is also shown that the LD effects can be enhanced via rational ligand design and that the differences between the LD enhanced ligands and their 'normal' counterparts can be readily demonstrated experimentally. A major conclusion from the work is that LD effects, although they are currently not widely recognized in inorganic molecular chemistry, are of major significance in the behavior of most sterically crowded molecules and consideration of such effects is thus essential for the understanding of their behavior.

Dispersion effects on the stabilities and structures of inorganic and organometallic molecules

ACS Spring 2022

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