Organometallic chemistry

Organometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. Organometallic chemistry combines aspects of inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry. Organometallic compounds are distinguished by the prefix "organo-". The organopalladium compounds are an example of this. Typical organometallic compounds are the organozinc compounds ClZnCH₂C(=0)OEt and chloro(ethoxycarbonylmethyl)zinc and the organocuprates Li[CuMe₂] and lithium dimethylcuprate, the organomagnesium compounds MeMgI, iodo(methyl)magnesium and diethylmagnesium which are Grignard reagents and organolithium compounds such as n-butyllithium.

An important class of organometallic compounds are metallocenes with ferrocene as a prime example. The term "metal" is defined deliberately broadly in this context and may include elements, such as silicon, arsenic or boron, which are not metallic but are considered to be metalloids such as the organoborane Et₃B triethylborane. There is also the group of poor metal elements such as aluminium that form Ziegler-Natta catalysts.

Organometallic compounds often find practical use as catalysts, in for example the processing of petroleum products and the production of organic polymers.

Organometallic chemistry timeline

• 1760 Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt investigates inks based on Cobalt salts and isolates Cacodyl from cobalt mineral containing arsenic
• 1827 Zeise’s salt is the first platinum / olefin complex
• 1863 Charles Friedel and James Crafts prepare organochlorosilanes
• 1890 Ludwig Mond discovers Nickel carbonyl
• 1899 introduction of Grignard reagent
• 1900 Paul Sabatier works on hydrogenation organic compounds with metal catalysts. Hydrogenation of fats kicks off advances in food industry, see margerine
• 1912 Nobel prize Victor Grignard and Paul Sabatier
• 1930 Henry Gilman works on lithium cuprates, see Gilman reagent
• 1963 Nobel prize for Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta on Ziegler-Natta catalyst
• 1968 Heck reaction
• 1973 Nobel prize Geoffrey Wilkinson and Ernst Otto Fischer on sandwich compounds

Organometallics

• organopalladium chemistry
• organoplatinum chemistry
• organotin chemistry
• organomagnesium chemistry

See also

• chelation,
• electron counting