1) N,N'-azodioxides, dimers formed from nitrosoalkanes, have the potential to behave as chelating, redox-active ligands for transition metal complexes, but their coordination chemistry has so far not been widely explored.
2) Transition-metal alkyl nitrosyl complexes have been shown to form nitrosoalkane complexes via the migratory insertion reaction, similar to the formation of metal acyl complexes from metal alkyl carbonyl complexes. Acyl complex formation is known to be accelerated in some cases by single-electron oxidation or reduction.
3) N-nitrosamines are a well-known class of carcinogenic poisons, found both in meats cured with nitrite salts and as pollutants arising from rubber manufacture and the chlorination of waste water. This project will explore the coordination chemistry of nitrosamines, with the goal of developing a metal-mediated method for their degradation to less toxic substances. Metal complexes will be sought to mediate a series of reactions to accomplish azidolysis of nitrosamines to yield less toxic dialkylammonium ions and elemental nitrogen. Conditions will then be developed to allow these reactions to be run together in a single reaction vessel, for a one-pot, metal-catalyzed detoxification reaction.
