h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Superb entry on the periodic table. Organometallic compounds though intrigues me. I left uni over twenty years ago and this subject was in its infancy. By organometallic do you mean compounds like haemoglobin? If so when are we going to be able to synthesise the stuff?

Hi third man

Heamglobin, no that isn't organometallic. Bio-inorganic is the term which would more apply. Organometallic chemistry deals with compounds in which there are metal-carbon bonds. In heamoglobin there are none. The heamoglobin molecule is a protien containing four units each of which contains and Fe2+ ion. The ion is held in place by a binding to the nitrogen atom of a histadine amino acid in the protien and by binding to the four nitrogen atoms of a guest molecule called a porphyrin and so isn't organometallic. (well, unless you have carbon monoxide poisoning where th carbon atom of a CO molecule binds to the iron. People have tried to make mimcs of heamoglobin, concentrate on the important prt, th porphyrin and the iron parts that do th work but this i dogged by porphyrins benig difficlut to make in quantities bigger than 0.1g and them also being easily oxidised when no protcted by being wrapped in a protien molecule but uch model studies hav improved the knowledge of how th molecule works.

The field of organometallic chemistry got started realy in the 1950's though there are several examples of organomenattlic compounds from well before this, Zeises complex from the 1800s where he bublled ethene through a solution of PtCl42- to give the alkene complex PtCl3(CH2=HC2)-, also the famous Gringard reagents used widely in synthetic chmistry. Organometallic chemistry is now a truly massiv area and has huge applications being the backbone of the modern petrochemical industry. Hope that helps, if you have any more questions, fell free

When you mentioned platinum something stirred in my memory. A very useful catalyst, if I remember rightly it's used in the Haber process for the production of ammonia. Presumably it forms a temporary intermediate compound with the nitrogen atom. Strange how such an ostensibly unreactive metal can have so many uses.