An investigation of organo-cobalt compounds

The work described in this thesis deals with the chemistry of cobalt and its compounds particularly the organic cobalt compounds. The main division of the work is into two sections Part A and Part B. This division has been made because while both sections discuss work relating to the organo-cobalt compounds there is a very definite difference in the nature of work discussed in the two sections as well as in the type of approach used and the results obtained. In Part A the problem is concerned with the cobalt complex of 1-nitroso 2-naphthol. This problem is of course closely related with metallurgical practice in the production. of zinc by electrolytic methods. The removal of cobalt from electrolyte solutions is essential if satisfactory deposition of the zinc is to occur. This removal of cobalt is usually carried out in acid solution by precipitation with 1-nitroso 2-naphthol. A red cobalt complex forms and this is filtered off. The filtrate containing the zinc can then be satisfactorily electrolysed. By igniting the red cobalt precipitate the organic material is removed and a residue of cobalt oxide obtained. This cobalt oxide is a valuable material and finds many applications commercial. The process for obtaining this cobalt oxide has many dis-advantages the most important being the loss of the organic material in the igniting process. This problem was thus considered and some progress made towards its solution. It will be much better appreciated later how the emphasis in this work has been placed more on the immediate commercial requirements than the more fundamental aspects of the problem. In Part B work dealing with efforts to prepare organo- cobalt compounds is considered. This work has been done in order to obtain a better idea of the fundamentals of cobalt chemistry, such as valence, electron distribution in various cobalt compounds etc., and with the hope too that any knowledge so gained might be in further research into the properties of the cobalt complex of 1-nitroso 2-naphthol. In this section a series of new compounds are described of the organo-cobalt type and a description of these compounds and some of their reactions is also included. It should be realised too that these studies have a value of their own in so far as cobalt and its various compounds are playing an ever increasing part in such fields as pharmacology, medicine, agriculture etc., and so any knowledge gained of an essentially basic and fundamental nature may affect in some measure studies in related fields. Attention has been placed in this section of the work on the theory and mechanism of various reactions with a view to obtaining fundamental information