Selective Reactions of Metal-Activated Molecules

Helmut Werner worked for his Diploma Thesis with Franz Hein, one of the giants of coordination chemistry in Germany from 1920 to 1960, and obtained his Ph. D. in the laboratory of Ernst Otto Fischer, one of the great heros of organo-transition metal chemistry in the latter half of the twentieth century. He prepared the first borazine-metal complexes, isolated the chemical Big Mac, promoted the concept of metal basicity, investigated the chemistry of metalla-cumulenes and, most recently, discovered a new bonding mode for tertiary phosphines, arsines and stibines. He held academic positions at the Technical University of Munich, the University of Zürich and the University of Würzburg, and from 1990-2001 was the Chairman of an Interdisciplinary Research Unit in organometallic chemistry.

I Selective Coupling and Cleavage of Covalent Bonds by Metal Complexes and Metallo Enzymes.- C-O Bonds.- Enantioselective Metal Catalysis.- Direct Asymmetric Epoxidation of Aldehydes Using Catalytic Amounts of Enantiomerically Pure Sulfides.- Transition Metal Complexes as Models for Metallo Enzymes: Mechanistic Studies and Preparative Applications.- The Potential of Selenium-Containing Peroxidases in Asymmetric Catalysis: Glutathione Peroxidase and Seleno-Subtilisin.- Biocatalytic Synthesis of Optically Active Oxyfunctionalized Compounds.- Selective Metal-Catalyzed Oxygen Transfer.- Chemo- and Diastereoselective Epoxidations Catalyzed by Titanium-Containing Zeolites: Evidence for a Hydrogen-Bonded Peroxy-Type Loaded Complex as Oxidizing Species.- Enantioselective Alkylperoxylation of Prochiral Allylic and Benzylic C-H Groups with tert-Butyl Hydroperoxide in the Presence of Chiral Copper Complexes.- Catalytic Activation of Hydrogen Peroxide and Bistrimethylsilyl Peroxide for the Oxidation of Olefins and Aromatic Hydrocarbons.- Ti-TADDOLates and Related Complexes in Asymmetric Synthesis: Ring-Opening Reactions and Cu-Catalyzed Conjugate Additions of Grignard Reagents.- Transition Metal Peroxo Complexes as Versatile Tools in the Oxidative Ring Closure of Substituted 4-Pentenols — The Synthesis of Tetrahydrofurans and Tetrahydrofurans.- Kinetic Resolution of Dihydronaphthalenes by Jacobsen Epoxidation: Evidence for Polar Intermediates and Structure Elucidation by Calculation of CD Spectra.- One-Electron Oxidation of Metal Enolates.- C-C and C-H Bonds.- New Explorations in Metal-Catalyzed Reactions.- The Chemical Reactivity of some Alkenyl Complexes of Iridium.- Asymmetric Allylic Substitutions with Pd Complexes of Phosphinooxazolines as Ligands — Preparative and Mechanistic Aspects.- New Preparations and Reactions of Organozinc Reagents.- Stereoselective Synthesis of Axially Chiral Biaryls Utilizing Planar Chiral (Arene)chromium Complexes.- Metal-Assisted Synthesis and Application of Axially Chiral Biaryl Systems.- Transition-Metal-Mediated Radical Reactions: A Convenient Method for the Synthesis of 2-C-Branched Carbohydrates.- Homogeneous Catalysis in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide: A “Better Solution”?.- Stereoselective Hydroformylation of Acyclic Olefins with the Aid of a Catalyst Directing Group.- Fluorenyl Complexes of Zirconium and Hafnium as Catalysts for the Olefin Polymerization.- Orthometalated Rhodium(II) Compounds. Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Applications.- Monomeric Organo-Copper(I) Compounds as Organyl Transfer Reagents.- Unsymmetrical Chelating Ligands: The First Peralkylated Phosphino(stibino)- and Phosphino(arsino)methanes and Their Organometallic Rhodium Complexes.- C-C, C-P and C-N Coupling Reactions Mediated by Square-Planar Cumulenylidene Rhodium Complexes.- Structure and Reactivity of 2,6-Bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)pyridine Complexes of Rhodium (I) and Palladium (II).- C-E and E-E Bonds (E = Heteroatom).- The Unusual Chemistry of Bimetallic Silyl Complexes.- Organotransition-Metal Dendrimers.- Towards Metalloreceptors on the Basis of Square Pyramidal Coordination Caps.- Activation of Small Molecules at Transition Metal Sites.- Organic Transformations with Early-Late Heterobimetallics: Synergism and Selectivity.- Design of Monoanionic Self Adapting N-Heteroaromatic Substituted Claw Ligands.- Enantioselective Organic Syntheses Using Chiral Transition Metal Complexes — The Search for Highly Dissymetric Templates.- Enantioselective Oxidation of Thioethers Using Ruthenium Complexes as Chiral Auxiliaries.- Stereo- and Enantioselective Reactions of Thioaldehydes, Thioketones, Thioketenes, Thionolactones Mediated by Ruthenium Complexes.- Salen-Type Oxo Vanadium Complexes as Catalysts for Sulfoxidation and Epoxidation Reactions with Hydroperoxides.- Metal Mediated Synthesis of Chiral Secondary Phosphane Ligands via the Organophosphenium Complexes Cp(OC)(L)M=P(H)R (M = Mo, W; L = OC, Me3P; R = t-Bu, Mes). — Regiospecific Functionalization of Iron and Ruthenium Substituted Disilanes.- II Spectroscopical and Theoretical Studies on the Structure and Dynamics of Metal Complexes.- Light-Induced Radical Formation from Organometallic Complexes.- The Luminous and the Dark Side of Singlet Oxygen: Comparison Between Photochemical and Chemical Sources of Singlet Oxygen (1O2, 1?g) in Organic Synthesis.- Raman Spectroscopy on Transition Metal Complexes.- Photochemistry Studies by Matrix Isolation Raman Spectroscopy.- Sol-Gel-Processed Functionalized Metalla-Phospha-Adamantanes. Highly Mobile Reaction Centers for Chemistry in Interphases.- Calculation of Structures, Activities and Spectroscopic Properties of Metal-Activated Molecules.- Relativistic Density Functional Calculations on Transition-Metal and Lanthanide Compounds.- Photodissociation Dynamics of Transition Metal Complexes: Quantum Simulation Supported by Wave-packet Propagations.- Time-Dependent Quantum Calculations on the Nuclear Dynamics of Laser Excited Organometallic Molecules.- Ultrafast Photodissociation Dynamics of Isolated Ironpentacarbonyl.