Lunedì 9 ottobre 2023 - Ore 15:00 - Aula 33
Prof. Ulrich W. Fekl - University of Toronto
  Seminario  

Adamantane, a molecule, is the smallest nanodiamond. It is a polycyclic, strain-free structure that has two different carbon positions: the bridgehead (1-) position and the bridge (2-) position. We propose that the 2-position will be important for future direct and selective syntheses of molecular nanodiamonds. Homologation of adamantane formally involves functionalizing three axial 2-positions on the same cyclohexane ring of adamantane. Subsequent homologation formally leads to diamantane, triamantane, tetramantane and finally to macroscopic diamond. This procedure is formally simple but experimentally extremely challenging. We are metalating the 2-position of adamantane, extending the toolkit of reactions that can be done on the adamantane framework. We made the first structurally characterized unsupported 2-adamantyl metal complexes, which includes the metals zinc, magnesium, gold, and platinum. Reactions of these complexes will be discussed.