Electrostatics in Catalysis:

Enzyme are able to generate large electric potentials across their active sites to modify reactivity, specifically providing large rate enhancements. We will seek to prepare catalysts scaffolds that allow us to investigate how a unimolecular homogeneous catalyst can be used to modify rates and reactivity by introducing an electrostatic potential at a reactive metal center.

Strain-Induced Carbon–Carbon bond activation:

The ability to selectively activate carbon–carbon (C–C) bonds would have wide reaching implications for synthesis and remains a highly sought after goal. We will utilize intermediate strain to perform selective C–C bond activation with the ultimate goal of generating new disconnections from simple feedstock hydrocarbon materials.

Multiple Metals in Catalysis:

Placing multiple catalytically active metal centers in close proximity to one-another has been shown to yield divergent reactivity when compared to single metal containing catalyst. We will prepare a modular catalyst based on a supramolecular scaffold that will place multiple metal centers in a single catalyst unit that will provide the ability of each center to interact in an intramolecular fashion. These catalysts will be investigated for modification of synthetic applications and polymerization reactions.