Unusual η¹ -Coordinated Alkyne and Alkene Complexes

Source: Laboratory of Dr. Neal Abrams — SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Transition metals are found everywhere from vitamin supplements to electroplating baths. Transition metals also make up the pigments in many paints and compose all minerals. Typically, transition metals are found in the cationic form since they readily oxidize, or lose electrons, and are surrounded by electron donors called ligands. These ligands do not form ionic or covalent bonds with the metal...

Aldehydes and ketones are prepared from alcohols, alkenes, and alkynes via different reaction pathways. Alcohols are the most commonly used substrates for synthesizing aldehydes and ketones. The conversion of alcohol to aldehyde, which involves the oxidation process, depends on the class of the alcohol used and the strength of the oxidizing agent. For instance, primary alcohol will form an aldehyde when treated with a weak oxidizing agent; however, it gets over-oxidized to a carboxylic acid in...

Source: Vy M. Dong and Zhiwei Chen, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA
This experiment will demonstrate an example of an ozonolysis reaction to synthesize vanillin from isoeugenol (Figure 1). Ozonolysis of alkenes, an oxidation reaction between ozone and an alkene, is a common method to prepare aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. This experiment also demonstrates the use of an ozone generator and a low temperature (−78 °C) reaction.

Alkynes can be reduced to trans-alkenes using sodium or lithium in liquid ammonia. The reaction, known as dissolving metal reduction, proceeds with an anti addition of hydrogen across the carbon–carbon triple bond to form the trans product. Since ammonia exists as a gas (bp = −33°C) at room temperature, the reaction is carried out at low temperatures using a mixture of dry ice (sublimes at −78°C) and acetone. 
When dissolved in liquid ammonia, an alkali metal, such as sodium,...

Introduction
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.

Unusual results are those that have a very low chance of occurring. Unusual results can be identified using probabilities and the range rule of thumb. In problems involving probability, unusual results can be observed in 2 instances – an unusually high number of successes or an unusually low number of successes.
According to the range rule of thumb, any value above or below two standard deviations, 2σ  from the mean, μ  is considered unusual.
Maximum unusual value =...