Abstract

Homogeneous catalysts are indispensable in synthetic applications, creating valuable pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and polymers. In most cases these catalysts are metal complexes, where an organic ligand binds to and therefore modifies the catalytic ability of a single metal center. In contrast, Nature has many well-known bimetallic catalysts (enzymes), where two or more metal centers work in synergy to accomplish reactions using mechanisms inaccessible to monometallic catalysis. Therefore a primary objective of our work is to develop new bimetallic catalysts where the two metal active sites are carefully crafted to enhance catalytic behavior. In this presentation, the design and discovery of new bimetallic catalysts will be presented, along with applications for the synthesis of small molecules and polymers.