ORGANIC-CHEMISTRY AT AN IRIDIUM CENTER - UNUSUAL BOND-MAKING AND BOND-BREAKING REACTIONS

In examining the utilization of transition metals in synthetic organic chemistry, iridium is not a metal which comes to the fore, in fact, w hile its family member, rhodium, sees extensive use for organic synthe sis, iridium is pretty much ignored. However, there are quite a number of unusual bond-making and bond-breaking reactions that can occur at an iridium center that suggest that iridium be given a closer look. In this article, the organometallic chemistry of iridium will be reviewe d with special attention paid to unusual transformations of organic gr oups that are attached to the metal. These include, C-H cleavage, C-C cleavage, as well as quite a number of other bond cleavage reactions s uch as B-H, N-H, and O-H. The chemistry of iridium with various hetero cycles containing O, N and S will also be discussed, especially the ch emistry that has relevance to hydrodesulfurization chemistry. Beyond b ond-breaking reactions, iridium is quite adept at facilitating quite a number of unusual bond-making reactions. The ability of iridium compl exes for H-C, B-C, C-C, and N-C bond-making chemistry will be covered.