Synthesis and Characterization of a Dicobalt Catalyst for the Silylation of Dinitrogen

Abstract

Several dicobalt compounds were synthesized and characterized. Through these studies, dinitrogen binding was found at to happen in three oxidation states of the dicobalt core. This finding lead to the exploration of dinitrogen fixation, specifically the reduction of dinitrogen to tris(trimethylsiyl)amine. The complex was found to generate a turnover number (TON) of 195 for the catalytic silylation of dinitrogen, putting as the top performing catalyst for this process. Mechanistic insight was gained through computational modeling. The modeling studies lead to a road map for the isolation of potential intermediates along the catalytic pathway. All of these studies will be discussed within.