Richard Holm

The research activities of Richard Holm and his co-workers encompass synthetic, structural, and reactivity aspects of transition element chemistry. Synthetic endeavors are directed toward the attainment of new classes of compounds, many of which are related to metal-containing units in proteins and enzymes. Research involves extensive synthesis, molecular structural characterization by spectroscopic and x-ray diffraction methods, and investigations of reactivity.

Much of the current research is directed toward the synthesis of low molecular weight representations of biologically active sites and a detailed examination of their structural properties and reactivities. Compounds of interest include iron-sulfur clusters, as models of ferredoxin sites,and iron-molybdenum-sulfur clusters, as approaches to the iron-molybdenum cofactor of nitrogenase. Also under investigation are compounds and reaction systems related to hydrogenase, sulfite reductase, nitrite reductase, and molybdenum-containing oxo-transferases. In addition, investigations of the fundamental chemistry of solubilized metal chalcogenides and chalcogenide clusters are in progress.

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