OUR PROJECTS
If any of these projects interest you then feel free to contact us to find out more and about how you could help us to achieve these goals. See below for a short description of each of our projects.
Lewis acids and FLPs for reductive coupling reactions
Reductive coupling reactions are extensively employed in preparation of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other fine chemicals. The reactions are catalyzed by precious metal catalysts, which are frequently toxic, incredibly expensive and extremely scarce on Earth. Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) based on Earth abundant elements can potentially replace the currently used precious metal catalysts. We research FLPs based on Lewis acids of group 13 and 14 for applications in reductive coupling reactions of CO2 with amines with the purpose of establishing greener synthetic pathways towards N-formylamines and N-methylamines.
Synthesis and characterisation of Tin(IV) porphyrins
Metalloporphyrins are active photosensitizers, haem analogues, building blocks of diverse supramolecular structures and active Lewis acid catalysts. We study group 13 and 14 metalloporphyrins for applications in Frustrated Lewis Pair (FLP) chemistry. In particular, group 14 metalloporphyrins display high Lewis acidity, stability and their inherent planar structure avoids energetic barrier of transformation from tetrahedral to planar geometry, which is displayed by other group 14 Lewis acids.
Heterogenisation of FLPs
We seek to heterogenise FLPs by employing MOFs as members of the FLP and as FLP themselves. We seek to do this by synthesising novel lewis acidic MOFs based on already existing Lewis acid MOFs by way of linker and SBU modification. This is in an attempt to increase the Lewis acidity of the MOF. These MOFs will aim to be used in dihydrogen activation, CO2 sequestration and valorization and the formation of N-formylamines and N-methyl amines.
Dual FLPs
Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) emerged in the last 15 years as potential alternatives to precious metal catalysts. They have demonstrated the ability to activate small molecules such as hydrogen or carbon dioxide. Furthermore, numerous FLP-based hydrogenation catalysts have already been developed. Major limitation of current FLPs, in comparison to precious metal catalysts, is their inability to simultaneously activate multiple substrates. This limits their application to moderately reactive substrates such as the reduction of imines. We seek to overcome this limitation by preparation of FLPs with multiple ‘Frustrated’ centers in close proximity, which would react simultaneously with more than one substrate.