Geoffrey Wilkinson first reported his famous work on the hydrogenation catalyst that now bears his name in 1965[1] and I met him at Imperial College around 1969 and again when I returned there in 1977. He was still working on these catalysts then and I was privileged to collaborate with him on unravelling the NMR spectra of some of these compounds.[2],[3],[4]. During that period, computational modelling of the mechanisms of molecules containing transition elements was still in its infancy and I never extended my collaboration into this area at that time. Now, even if belatedly, I decided to explore this aspect and started to do this about two weeks ago. Here I thought that I would use this opportunity to show how I am going about it.
References
- J.F. Young, J.A. Osborn, F.H. Jardine, and G. Wilkinson, "Hydride intermediates in homogeneous hydrogenation reactions of olefins and acetylenes using rhodium catalysts", Chemical Communications (London), pp. 131, 1965. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C19650000131
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K.W. Chiu, H.S. Rzepa, R.N. Sheppard, G. Wilkinson, and W. Wong, "Two-dimensional δ/J-resolved31P n.m.r. spectroscopy of [bis(diphenylphosphino)methane](trimethylphosphine)chlororhodium(
I )", J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., pp. 482-484, 1982. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C39820000482 - C. Kwok W., C.G. Howard, H.S. Rzepa, R.N. Sheppard, G. Wilkinson, A.M. Galas, and M.B. Hursthouse, "Trimethyl and diethylphenylphosphine complexes of rhenium(I, III, IV, V) and their reactions. X-ray crystal structures of a bis(η5-cyclopentadienyl)-ethane-bridged dirhenium(I) complex obtained from phenylacetylene, tetrakis-(diethylphenylphosphine) (dinitrogen) hydridorhenium (I), tetrakis(trimethyl-phosphine) (η2-dimethylphosphinomethyl) rhenium(I) and tetrakis(trimethylphosphine) (iodo)methyl rhenium(III) iodide-tetramethylphosphonium iodide", Polyhedron, vol. 1, pp. 441-451, 1982. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5387(00)86558-4
- K.W. Chiu, H.S. Rzepa, R.N. Sheppard, G. Wilkinson, and W. Wong, "Bis(diphenylphosphino)methane trimethylphosphine alkyl and η5-cyclopentadienyl compounds of rhodium(I); 31P{1H} two dimensional δ/J resolved and Overhauser effect nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy", Polyhedron, vol. 1, pp. 809-817, 1982. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0277-5387(82)80008-9