Dioxygen Activation by Nickel Complexes

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

Investigators

Abstract

Professor Charles Riordan, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Delaware, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program to prepare nickel complexes that activate dioxygen. Ligand framework design plans and sophisticated physical techniques are two pillars for developing this homogeneous Ni(I) chemistry. The mechanism of oxygen activation by monovalent nickel reagents will be probed with kinetic studies and by examining the scope of oxidative reactions available to reactive nickel oxygen species with selected substrates. Oxidations employing dioxygen are attractive as an environmentally responsible chemical process in converting organic substrates to their oxidized derivatives. Metalloenzymes provide inspiration for using first row transition metals to catalyze oxidation reactions, and the breadth of chemistry required to synthesize and characterize these reactive intermediates provides a rich training environment of undergraduate and graduate students.