CAREER: New Late-transition Metal Platforms for the Activation of Inert Molecules

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

With this CAREER Award, the Chemical Synthesis program is supporting the research of Professor Jan-Uwe Rohde of the University of Iowa. Professor Rohde and his students will develop and investigate transition metal complexes with unique electronic structure and diverse reactivity. One aspect of the project involves redox-active ligands, which have the capacity to facilitate bond-forming and bond-breaking processes mediated by a coordinated metal center. First, new complexes of these ligands will be synthesized and systematically examined by spectroscopic and structural techniques, in order to define their electronic structure. Second, investigations into the reactivity of the complexes will be directed toward the identification of selective mechanisms for the activation of small and inert molecules. Another aspect of the project deals with strongly-donating, redox-inactive ligands and is designed to develop the general synthesis of high-oxidation state complexes and to determine their properties. This research may ultimately lead to new methods of substrate functionalization and provide a fundamental basis for the development of methods that use energy and raw materials more efficiently. Professor Rohde will also continue to pursue educational projects that that are interwoven with research. A program that offers summer research opportunities to high school students from predominantly underrepresented groups is already in place. Professor Rohde will also introduce students, chemists and non-chemists, to techniques that have broad significance across scientific fields. New teaching tools will be developed for X-ray based methods (e.g., X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy) that find increasing application in chemistry, the life sciences and materials science, but to which access is usually limited.