Activation of inert entities has been and continues to be of extreme interest to any organic chemist. This is especially true with activation of atmospheric molecules such as CO2 or also the activation of relatively inert C-H, C-C or C-O bonds. Certainly, the development of catalytic methods for the activation of the above-mentioned entities would be highly desirable, as many of the current methods involve the use of stochiometric amounts of metal complexes. The research of our group is mainly directed towards the development of novel methodologies for the metal-catalyzed activation of inert entities with the aim of producing synthetically relevant molecules (Figure 1). We are also interested in the mechanism of these reactions, as the understanding of these processes on a fundamental level will in turn lay the foundation for future applications of this chemistry.

Figure1- Research at Martin Laboratories