Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026

Characterizing Lewis Pairs Using Titration Coupled with In Situ Infrared Spectroscopy
Published on: February 20, 2020
Frustrated Lewis pairs beyond the main group: transition metal-containing systems
Duncan F Wass1, Andy M Chapman
1School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, U.K., Duncan.wass@bristol.ac.uk.
Abstract:
The concept of the "frustrated" Lewis pair (FLP) offers a valuable paradigm for transition metal complexes. This chapter describes recent developments in FLP chemistry where one or both of the Lewis acidic or Lewis basic components are based on a transition metal. At the forefront of these developments have been zirconocene-phosphinoaryloxide complexes; the activation of small molecules, including H2, CO2, ethers, olefins and alkyl chlorides or fluorides, with such zirconocene (or group 4 metallocene in general) phosphine pairs is described. Nascent catalytic applications for such complexes in dehydrogenation reactions and future possibilities for catalytic reactivity are also highlighted. A wider discussion of how the FLP concept may rationalise previous examples of cooperative reactivity in transition metal complexes, such as the heterolytic cleavage of hydrogen, suggests a strong and useful analogy.
More Related Videos
07:14Experimental Approaches for the Synthesis of Low-Valent Metal-Organic Frameworks from Multitopic Phosphine Linkers
Published on: May 12, 2023
04:51Synthesis of Triazole and Tetrazole-Functionalized Zr-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks Through Post-Synthetic Ligand Exchange
Published on: June 23, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Exceptions to the Octet Rule
Lewis Symbols and the Octet Rule
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Periodic Classification of the Elements
Properties of Transition Metals
Lewis Structures and Formal Charges