Perturbing Bimetallic Cores: Synthetic, Spectroscopic, and Computational Investigations of Heterotrimetallic Extended Metal Atom Chains

The series of heterometallic extended metal atom chains (HEMAC) complexes of the type M≣M–M’ (M = Cr, Mo, W; M’ = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) supported by the equatorial ligand 2,2-dipyridylamide (dpa). has been systematically investigated over the last 20 years. The work in this dissertation describes the synthesis of the last compounds to complete the M2M’(dpa)4Cl2 series and computationally investigates their electronic structure. The effects of changing both the heterometal, M’, and the identity of the metal in the bimetallic core, M, are examined and compared. In particular, the result of the bimetallic core containing a heavy metal with relativistic effects was found to cause the W2M’ compounds to have very low energy absorption features.