Recent advances in organometallic alkane and noble gas complexes

Fast time-resolved infrared (TRIR) spectroscopy has been useful for studying the reactions of a wide range of organometallic alkane and noble gas complexes at ambient temperature following irradiation of metal carbonyl precursor complexes. The reactivity of organometallic alkane and xenon complexes decreases both across and down groups V, VI, and VII, and for a given metal/ligand combination the alkane and xenon complexes have similar reactivities. Systematic studies of reactivity have produced long-lived Re complexes which have allowed such complexes to be characterized using NMR spectroscopy. A new approach using liquid propane at low temperature as a solvent to monitor the interaction of such weakly coordinating ligands with transition-metal centers is outlined. TRIR studies monitoring the coordination and activation of methane and ethane in supercritical methane and liquid ethane solvents at room temperature are also reviewed.