| This dissertation is comprised of 6 chapters that may be divided into three types of subject matter. The first section has as its unifying theme catalytic oxidations of organic substances. Chapter I introduces the structural and chemical properties of a reactive metalloporphyrin with aliphatic amine N-oxide ligands as a precursor to the proposed high valent manganese oxo-porphyrin systems thought to be involved in alkane and alkene oxidation by metalloporphyrins. Chapter II presents data relevant to the use of substituted metalloporphyrins in alkane activation and how the nature of the substituents change both the bond cleavage selectivities and the oxidative stability of these metalloporphyrins. Chapters III and IV introduce the newly discovered Transition Metal Substituted Polyoxometalate (TMSP) - Iodosylarene oxidation system and its application towards the catalytic oxidation of both alkenes (Chpt. III) and alkanes (Chpt. IV). The second section, Chapter V, presents preliminary data for the use of Heteropoly- and Isopoly-anions as anti-HIV (AIDS) agents. The final section, Chapter VI, contains synthesis and crystallographic studies on two related molecules, a hypervalent iodonium ylide, phenyldimedonyliodone {dollar}cdot{dollar} water and its thermal rearrangement product, the phenyl ether of iododimedone. |
