Invited Seminar - Prof. Dr. Alicia Casitas, Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany)

📅 June 14th

📍 ICIQ Auditorium

⏰ 4 p.m

An Organometallic Perspective to First-Row Transition Metal Catalysis: Searching for Unconventional Reactivity Patterns

Catalysis plays a pivotal role in the development of environmentally friendly and efficient chemical processes towards the synthesis of high-value chemicals from abundant and renewable feedstocks. On the quest of more sustainable synthesis, our research group focuses on the discovery and development of organic reactions catalyzed by middle and late first-row metals (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni).

Transition-metal catalyzed nucleophilic allylic substitutions are well-established methods for the construction of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds in organic synthesis. In this communication, I will present our work in regioselective cobalt(I)-catalyzed nucleophilic allylic substitution reactions. This project aims at finding complementary reactivity to the well-stablished methods that involve precious metals, while providing an in-depth mechanistic understanding.

In the second part of the talk, I will introduce fundamental insights into the reactivity of organoiron species in high oxidation state, which may ultimately find application in catalysis towards organic synthesis. Thus, synthetic strategies to prepare Fe^III and Fe^IV cyanide complexes using hypervalent iodine reagents will be disclosed.^[1] Finally, I will present our ongoing work on the synthesis of highly reactive organometallic Fe^III and Fe^IV complexes and their involvement in carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions.^[2]

[1] C. Souilah, S. A. V. Jannuzzi, D. Demirbas, S. Ivlev, M. Swart, S. DeBeer, A. Casitas. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202201699. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202201699.

[2] Souilah, C.; Jannuzzi, S. A. V.; Demirbas, D.; Ivlev S., Xie, X; Peredkov, S; DeBeer, S., Casitas, A. Manuscript in preparation.