dog new tricksâ. What other topics are you working on at the moment? In addition to our interest in developing coordination compounds for novel reactivities and ...
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201801677
Cover Profile
Heterolytic Si@H Bond Cleavage at a Molybdenum-Oxido-Based Lewis Pair
Niklas Zwettler, Simon P. Walg, Ferdinand Belaj, Nadia C. Mçsch-Zanetti
Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Nadia C. Mçsch-Zanetti at the University of Graz. The image depicts the victorious boron getting the hydride while the defeated molybdenum oxide is left with the silyl cation. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.201800226.
What is the most significant result of this study? The report describes the heterolytic cleavage of Si@H bonds by a Lewis acid and a molybdenum oxido group acting as Lewis base. The process is not only reversible by transferring both the silyl and hydride fragment to a carbonyl substrate, but also leads to cationic molybdenum complexes with unique spectroscopic and electrochemical properties.
ylene to yield acetaldehyde and on the zinc enzyme carboanhydrase, which catalyzes the hydration of carbon dioxide.
What was the inspiration for this cover design?
The cover design by Niklas Zwettler is inspired by the classical comic narrative of a struggle between heroes and villains. The victorious boron gets the hydride while the defeated molybdenum oxide is left with the silyl cation.
What aspects of this project do you find most exciting?
The combination of Lewis basic metal oxides with Lewis acids gives the opportunity to investigate FLP-like reactivity next to redox-active metal centers. This leads to novel reactions of highvalent molybdenum oxido complexes, which have been widely used for decades, for example in oxygen atom transfer or olefin metathesis reactions, showing that you can indeed “teach an old dog new tricks”.
What other topics are you working on at the moment?
In addition to our interest in developing coordination compounds for novel reactivities and catalytic applications we design biomimetic models for the structure and/or function of metalloenzymes. Investigation of their activity with respect to the native enzyme leads to a better molecular understanding of the biological reaction. While we are interested in models for molybdenum, tungsten and zinc containing enzymes, the current focus is on the tungsten enzyme acetylene hydratase, which catalyzes the hydration of acetChem. Eur. J. 2018, 24, 7073
