Crystallography

The chemistry of Ge(II) with a range of neutral ligands reveals a very diverse range of structural features including highly variable coordination numbers (from 3 to 8). This remarkable range of structural motifs appear to be very subtly dependent upon the ligand donor type and steric and electronic properties. Secondary bonding interactions, prevalent in many complexes involving p-block elements, play a major role in governing the overall structures adopted. There is a need for experimental techniques that contribute to understanding the relevance of and the interplay between the different types of secondary bonding. This PhD will probe these effects via two approaches - charge density and high pressure analyses from single crystal diffraction techniques. Very little work has been performed on coordination compounds via either technique and exploratory work already undertaken in Southampton has produced the first results from either technique on p-block complexes. This PhD will illustrate the power of these advanced crystallographic procedures in probing these secondary bonding effects and extend them to other unexplored areas of coordination chemistry, thereby bringing the technique to the fore in the coordination chemistry community.