INTERMEDIATES IN ORGANOMETALLIC AND ORGANIC-CHEMISTRY - SPECTROSCOPY,POLYMERS, HYDROGENATION AND SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS

IR spectroscopy has transformed the study of mechanistic organometalli c chemistry. Reaction intermediates can now be detected and characteri zed; their kinetics can be measured and their behaviour understood. Ho wever, the field is not static. New techniques are still being develop ed. We focus here on hydrogenation and related reactions describing (i ) a miniature low-temperature/high-pressure cell, which allows photoch emical reactions to be studied under high pressures of gases, (ii) the use of flow reactors for continuous reactions in supercritical fluids , including hydrogenation of organic compounds, and (iii) the use of s upercritical fluid solutions for studying weak metal-ligand interactio ns by nanosecond time-resolved IR spectroscopy (TRIR) and the applicat ion of TRIR to the detection of intermediates in organic reactions. (C ) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.