Session: Undergraduate Research Posters: Inorganic Chemistry:

Traditional, solvent-heavy synthesis of coordination compounds has been known for over a century. Since most of the elements of the periodic table are metals, and since most of these metals can bind to electron-donating ligands, there is an immense number of known coordination compounds. These complexes have important uses in medicinal chemistry, as industrial catalysts, and in biological processes. A more energetically and environmentally efficient method of synthesis for these pervasive compounds can be achieved through mechanochemistry. Mechanochemistry, or the use of mechanical energy to cause a chemical reaction, is emerging as a greener alternative to traditional solvent-heavy syntheses. Grinding neat reactants together, either by hand in a mortar and pestle or by a powered mill, is often enough to initiate reaction and form desired products. In this study, mechanochemical alternative syntheses for several compounds were investigated and resulting compounds were analyzed using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy to elucidate chemical and crystalline structure. To the best of our knowledge, the novel mechanochemical synthesis of one coordination compound, dichlorothiosemicarbazidezinc(II) was confirmed, and another, dichloro-bis(N-pyridine)-copper(II), may have been synthesized mechanochemically for the first time. Presented herein are proposed structures, formulae, and synthetic pathways for several coordination complexes.

Deborah Polvani

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