SusChEM: Base Metal Heterobimetallic Catalysts For C-H Borylation And C-C Coupling

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

In this projected funded by the Chemical Catalysis program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Neal Mankad of the University of Illinois at Chicago focuses on the development of strategies for replacing noble metals with less expensive, and more easily available base metals. To approach this problem, new catalyst designs featuring inexpensive, benign, and earth-abundant elements are used to mimic the behavior of traditional catalysts based on precious metals that are expensive, rare, and environmentally hazardous. The ultimate goal of this research is to decrease the environmental and toxicological footprint of chemical catalysis and shift towards more sustainable methods. The catalyst design in this project pairs base metals such as iron and copper with direct, heterobimetallic metal-metal bonds. The design principle involves uncovering cooperative chemistry of the heterobimetallic pairs that is unavailable to either individual base metal fragment, thereby reproducing chemistry typically observed at a single-site noble metal, but in a bimetallic fashion. Using a modular synthetic approach, several candidate catalysts are readily constructed for probing important problems in catalysis. Precise control of the steric and electronic environments at the bimetallic cores is achieved, as characterized by NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and physical methods performed in collaboration with scientists at nearby Argonne National Laboratory. These heterobimetallic complexes are being explored as replacements for iridium in C-H functionalization catalysis and for palladium in C-C coupling catalysis. The concepts of sustainability in chemistry are being incorporated by Professor Mankad into the inorganic chemistry curriculum at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition, Professor Mankad has co-founded and co-organized the Chicago Regional Inorganic Colloquium series to network groups working on similar projects in the Chicago area. The broader impacts of this work include providing a training environment for future scientists while learning the fundamental scientific principles that allow base metals to replace noble metals in catalytic reactions of potential societal importance.