MODEL COMPOUNDS FOR METAL-OXIDES ON SIO2 SURFACES

Mechanistic studies and structural investigations on catalytically active metal oxides on SiO2 surfaces are still exceptionally difficult. Model compounds do yeoman's service in this field: The heptameric silanetriol 1 (R = c-C6H11) prepared by Feher et al. enables not only the modeling of specific surface morphologies, but also the synthesis of catalytically active metallasesquisiloxanes. Roesky et al. (see p. 599) used a simple silanetriol as an anchor for metal complex fragments; Schnockel et al. (see p. 638) have prepared an apparently prototypical complex [PdSiO] from the cocondensation of SiO and Pd, and characterized it by IR spectroscopy.