Disclosed are a pincer-type ligand having a structurally rigid acridane structure and a metal complex consisting of the pincer-type ligand and a metal bound to each other, and exhibiting high reactivity and stability during a variety of bonding activation reactions. T-shaped complexes can be prepared from .sup.acriPNP(4,5-bis(diisopropylphosphino)-2,7,9,9-tetramethyl-9H-acrid in-10-ide), which is a pincer-type PNP ligand having an acridane structure, and metal complexes, which can be structurally rigid and thus exhibit excellent reactivity and stability based on minimized structural change thereof, can be prepared by introducing an acridane structure into the backbone thereof. The PNP ligand is structurally stable and has novel chemical properties, as compared to conventional similar ligands, and thus can be utilized in a wide range of catalytic reactions and material chemistry.

An oxidative homocoupling method of synthesizing certain 2,2-bithiophenes from thiophenes using oxygen as the terminal oxidant is disclosed. In non-limiting examples, the method uses oxygen along with a catalytic system that includes palladium, an assistive ligand, and a non-palladium metal additive to catalyze one of the following reactions:

##STR00001##

Associated catalytic systems and compositions are also disclosed.

A chemoselective and reactive Mn(CF.sub.3-PDP) catalyst system that enables for the first time the strategic advantages of late-stage aliphatic CH hydroxylation to be leveraged in aromatic compounds. This discovery will benefit small molecule therapeutics by enabling the rapid diversification of aromatic drugs and natural products and identification of their metabolites.

The invention describes single-site metal catalysts such as Pt single-site centers on powdered oxide supports with a 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (PDO) or bis-pyrimidyltetrazine (BMTZ) ligand on powdered MgO, Al.sub.2O.sub.3, or CeO.sub.2.

Provided are methods of producing carbonyl compounds (e.g., carbonyl containing compounds) and catalysts for producing carbonyl compounds. Also provided are methods of making polymers from carbonyl compounds and polymers formed from carbonyl compounds. A method may produce carbonyl compounds, such as, for example ,-disubstituted carbonyl compounds (e.g., ,-disubstituted -lactones). The polymers may be produced from ,-disubstituted -lactones, which may be produced by a method described herein.

A method for oxidative cleavage of a compound with an unsaturated double bond is provided. The method includes the steps of: (A) providing a compound (I) with an unsaturated double bond, a trifluoromethyl-containing reagent, and a catalyst;

##STR00001## wherein, the catalyst is represented by Formula (II):

M(O).sub.mL.sup.1.sub.yL.sup.2.sub.z(II); wherein, M, L.sup.1, L.sup.2, m, y, z, R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are defined in the specification; and (B) mixing the compound with an unsaturated double bond and the trifluoromethyl-containing reagent to perform an oxidative cleavage of the compound with the unsaturated double bond by using the catalyst in air or under oxygen atmosphere condition to obtain a compound represented by Formula (III):

##STR00002##

Provided are methods of producing carbonyl compounds (e.g., carbonyl containing compounds) and catalysts for producing carbonyl compounds. Also provided are methods of making polymers from carbonyl compounds and polymers formed from carbonyl compounds. A method may produce carbonyl compounds, such as, for example ,-disubstituted carbonyl compounds (e.g., ,-disubstituted -lactones). The polymers may be produced from ,-disubstituted -lactones, which may be produced by a method described herein.

The present invention relates to a method of generating chlorine dioxide from chlorite salts in the presence of an iron ion-containing complex, a method of treating a substrate with a chlorine-containing oxidant in the presence of an iron ion-containing complex and related aqueous media, kits and compositions.

An oxidative homocoupling method of synthesizing certain 2,2-bithiophenes from thiophenes using oxygen as the terminal oxidant is disclosed. In non-limiting examples, the method uses oxygen along with a catalytic system that includes palladium, an assistive ligand, and a non-palladium metal additive to catalyze one of the following reactions: ##STR00001## Associated catalytic systems and compositions are also disclosed.

An electrocatalyst, more specifically an electrocatalyst derived from metal-organic framework is provided. An iron zeolitic imidazolate framework, the process for producing it, a graphite carbon nanocomposite containing it and iron nanoparticles, as well as the process for obtaining said nanocomposite from the iron zeolitic imidazolate framework are disclosed herein. Use of the nanocomposite as a catalyst is also disclosed.