Two members of our working group were recently awarded with Sigrid Peyerimhoff awards.

A novel catalysis scheme enables chemical reactions that were previously virtually impossible. The method developed at the University of Bonn is also environmentally friendly and does not require rare and precious metals. The researchers recorded the exact course of the catalysis in a kind of high-speed film. They did this using special lasers that can make processes visible that last only fractions of a billionth of a second. The results allow them to further optimize the catalyst. They have been published in the international edition of the renowned journal “Angewandte Chemie.”

Femtosecond ultraviolet-pump/mid-infrared-probe spectroscopy reveals that singlet and triplet azide-anion diradical ligands facilitate the efficient formation of a metallonitrene from a diamagnetic azido precursor.

Photolysis: The yield and product distribution of the photolysis of the archetypal azidoporphinatoiron(III) complex are examined by stationary and transient IR spectroscopy in conjunction with chemical quenching reactions with iodide and an isonitrile. The complex decomposes almost equally to the Fe(II) and the nitrido-Fe(V) product, with small absolute yields. Moreover, subsequent bimolecular reactions of the products are considered.

Femtosecond UV-pump/IR-probe spectroscopy elucidates the molecular mechanism of the photo-induced 1,3-dipolar cycloelimination of N2 from a tetrazole. In liquid solution, the nitrile imine photoproduct is a very floppy molecule that can adopt a variety of different conformations ranging from propargylic all the way to allenic structures.