Organo-Metal Composites

Organo-Metal Composites - Anchors on non-noble metals by NHC-monolayers

Ref.-Nr. 6930

Keywords: Organic coatings on non-novel metal surfaces, monolayer of carbene derivatives, strong bond, simple electrochemical coating process, sulfur-free anchor groups for functionalization

The present invention relates to sulfor-free composite materials in which organic compounds are applied as monolayers to base metals (iron, nickel, alloys etc.), as well as to methods for producing these materials. Composite materials in which organic materials are applied to metals by means of chemical bonding (so-called monolayers) play an important role in manyapplications. The materials show oxygen- and water ristance due to the strong covalent Bonding of the funcional NHC (N-heterocyclic Carben) Group to the metal surface. The metal surface coating is performed by a one pot electrochemical procedure of a NHC precursor solution.

Vorteile

Composite Material
Strong Bonding of Organic molecule to metallic surface
Simple coating method

Kommerzielle Anwendung

Possible applications for the composite materials of organic metal materials are corrosion inhibitors, functional surfaces for chemical- or sensors and electrodes .
N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHCs) are powerful ligands in catalysis due to their strong electron-donating properties and their ability to form very stable bonds to transition metals.[1] Thus, they are used as ligands to stabilize and modify nanoparticles or flat metals surfaces, since they outperform well established phosphine or thiol ligands regarding structural flexibility, electron-donating properties and stability. As an example, our group discovered the ballbot-type motion of NHCs on metal surfaces[2] or the catalyst activation for a heterogeneous Buchwald-Hartwig reaction.[3] Future work in this area will include studies about the fundamental behavior of NHCs on surfaces (rotation, electronic activation, 2D networks) and fine tuning of heterogeneous catalysts towards higher activity, selectivity and stability.