Development of catalysts for the transformation of C-H to C-C bonds; experimental and computational studies of relevant fundamental reaction steps including C-C bond elimination

Professor Alan Goldman of Rutgers University and his colleague Karsten Krogh-Jespersen are supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program to develop catalysts that will allow the activation of C-H bonds and lead to the formation of C-C bonds in subsequent reactions. The separate steps of C-H activation via oxidative addition and C-C bond formation via reductive elimination are the essential steps set forth for realizing C-H to C-C transformations in this system. This project utilizes PCP pincer ligated Ir complexes as the preferred platform for C-H activation, and new Ru complexes will be designed to accomplish related C-H activation and C-C bond forming reactions. The mechanistic details of reductive elimination to form new C-C bonds are being probed in this study in order to establish guidelines for promoting carbon-carbon bond formation. Since C-H bonds are ubiquitous in organic compounds they provide a rich source for carbon-carbon framework constructions by activation and manipulation of these relatively inert bonds. The broader impacts of this project include educational benefits for all levels of participants, from high school through graduate students, that include computational skills, experimentally sophisticated synthetic techniques, and opportunities to build expertise with a combination of inorganic and organic mechanistic probes.