Chemistry

Inorganic

 

 

George G. Stanley  

 

Cyril & Tutta Vetter

 Alumni Professor

 

E-mail:  gstanley@lsu.edu

Phone:  225-578-3471

 

B.S. University of Rochester, 1975

Ph.D. Texas A&M University, 1979

NATO & CNRS Postdoctoral Fellows

     Université Louis Pasteur,

     Strasbourg, France, 1979-81

 

Teaching

Research

ChemDemo Outreach

Cumulative Exams

UR Class ’75 Reunion Photos (2005)

 

 

We have designed and synthesized a new class of binucleating polydentate phosphine ligands for preparing novel bimetallic transition metal complexes. Considerable interest has been shown in showing that multiple metal centers can exhibit cooperative behavior in catalytic reactions and show superior activities and selectivities relative to monometallic complexes. This goal has been dramatically achieved through the design and synthesis of a new binucleating tetraphosphine ligand that can bridge and chelate two metal centers. This ligand, called et,ph-P4, exists in the two diastereomeric forms shown to the left.  [Rh2(nbd)2(et,ph-P4)]2+ (nbd = norbornadiene) is a precursor for a remarkable bimetallic hydroformylation catalyst. Hydroformylation is the largest homogeneous industrial catalytic process for converting alkenes, H2 and CO, into aldehyde products.

Our bimetallic catalyst has higher activity and selectivity for linear aldehyde products compared to current commercial Rh/PPh3 catalysts. The activity and selectivity of our bimetallic catalyst is extremely unusual because electron-rich chelating phosphines like et,ph-P4 are well known to generally deactivate rhodium toward hydroformylation and lower the selectivity to linear aldehyde. We have demonstrated (Science, 1993) that this catalyst represents one of the most dramatic examples of bimetallic cooperativity in homogeneous catalysis.

We have performed extensive in situ FT-IR and NMR studies on our catalyst system and have strong to tentative structural assignments for all complexes observed in the NMR.  This work has been featured on the cover of Angewandte Chemie (1996). We have proposed that the active bimetallic catalyst has the highly unusual dicationic dihydride Rh(+2) metal-metal bonded structure shown to the left. The localized cationic charge on each rhodium is critically important for the activity of this catalyst, as is the Rh-Rh bond for creating an extremely well defined catalyst binding site. 

Docking of vinyl acetate onto the catalyst showing the two pro-chiral coordination modes and the energy differences between them as calculated by molecular modeling.  Experimentally we find an enantioselectivity of 85% for this reaction with the same chirality predicted by the modeling study.

We have also discovered that the addition of water to the acetone solvent used for our hydroformylation catalytic studies causes a dramatic increase in the rate of catalysis and far better selectivity with virtually no alkene isomerization and hydrogenation side reactions.  For example, with 30% water in acetone we see an initial turnover frequency of over 4000 hr-1, an aldehyde linear to branched regioselectivity of 33:1, and alkene isomerization and hydrogenation well under 0.2%.  This makes our system the most active and selective hydroformylation catalyst known. 

We are actively continuing our studies into this exciting new bimetallic catalyst system, with emphasis on asymmetric catalytic reactions and extensions of bimetallic cooperativity into other new types of catalytic reactions such as hydrocarboxylation, for which we have exciting preliminary results.

Our research laboratory has state-of-the-art computerized autoclave facilities and a high pressure IR cell for in situ catalytic studies. There is considerable industrial interest in this radically new catalyst, and we are working closely with several companies on this project.

Contact Info:

Prof. George G. Stanley

Department of Chemistry

Louisiana State University

Baton Rouge, LA  70803-1804

Phone:  225-578-3471

FAX:  225-578-3458

E-Mail:  gstanley@lsu.edu

Office:  614 Choppin Hall

 

 

 

 

Selected Publications

A Bimetallic Hydroformylation Catalyst:  Homobimetallic Cooperativity Produces High Regioselectivities and Reaction Rates.  Melanie E. Broussard, Booker Juma, Spencer G. Train, Wei-Jun Peng, Scott A. Laneman, and George G. Stanley, Science, 260, 1784-1788 (1993).

Bimetallic Hydroformylation Catalysis:  In Situ Characterization of a Dinuclear Rh(II) Hydride Complex and Observation of the Largest Rhodium-Hydride NMR Coupling Constant.  Rhonda D. Carter, Donna K. Howell, Wei-Jun Peng, Spencer G. Train, W. Dale Treleaven and George G. Stanley, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 35, 2253-2256 (1996)

Bimetallic Hydroformylation Catalysis:  A Zwitterionic Rh(-1)/Rh(+1) Tetraphosphine Ligand-Based Bimetallic Complex Exhibiting Facile CO Addition and Phosphine Ligand Rearrangement Equilibrium.  Wei-Jun Peng, Spencer Train, Donna K. Howell, Frank R. Fronczek and George G. Stanley, Chem. Commun., 2607-2608 (1996)

Bimetallic Homogeneous Hydroformylation, book chapter in “Catalysis by Di- and Polynuclear Metal Complexes”, R. D. Adams and F. A. Cotton, Eds., Wiley, NY, 1998, pages 345-372.

Separating the Racemic and Meso Diastereomers of a Binucleating Tetraphosphine Ligand System.  David Aubry, Frank R. Fronczek and George G. Stanley, Inorg. Chem., 40, 5036-5041 (2001)

A Monometallic Rh(III) Tetraphosphine Complex:  Reductive Activation of CH2Cl2 and Selective meso to racemic Tetraphosphine Ligand Isomerization.  Clinton Hunt Jr., Frank R. Fronczek, Damon R. Billodeaux and George G. Stanley, Inorg. Chem., 40, 5192-5198 (2001)

Polar Phase Hydroformylation:  The Dramatic Effect of Water on Mono- and Dirhodium Catalysts.  David A. Aubry, Novella N. Bridges, Kerri Ezell and George G. Stanley, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126, 11180-11181 (2003)

 

Current Ph.D Students

Alex Monteil

Catherine Thomas

       

Chemistry Home

Chemistry Grad Info

 

 

Former Ph.D. Students

Dr. Fredric R. Askham, InPhase Technologies (CO)

Prof. Suzanne E. Saum, Florissant Valley Community College, St. Louis, MO

Dr. Scott A. Laneman, Consultant, Digital Specialty Chemicals (IL)

Prof. Booker Juma, Fayetteville State University (NC)

Dr. Melanie E. Broussard, Nalco Chemical Co. (IL)

Dr. Spencer G. Train, Vopac (Houston, TX)

Dr. Pia R. Alburquerque, Grambling University (LA)

Dr. H. Frederick Koch, Consultant (TX)

Dr. Rhonda C. Matthews, ExxonMobil (LA)

Prof. Donna K. Howell, Angelo State University (TX)

Dr. Barry Misquitta, Ferro Chemical (OH)

Dr. Clinton Hunt, Jr., Alcorn State University (MS)

Dr. Novella Bridges, Pacific Northwest National Lab (WA)

Dr. David Aubry, Invista Co. (TX)

Dr. Bobby Barker, SAIC (AK)

Prof. Petia Gueorguieva, Delta College (CA)

Dr. Zakiya Wilson, Program Coordinator, University of Delaware

       

 

Selected Awards & Honors

Chair, Inorganic Gordon Conference, 2005 (Vice-Chair for 2004)

NSF Special Creativity Awards, 1994 & 2003

Organizer, NSF Inorganic Workshops, 1997-2000

Baton Rouge-ACS Charles E. Coates Award, 1999

LSU University Excellence in Teaching Award, 1995

Editorial Board, Inorganic Chemistry, 1993-94