Effects of Ligand Spatial Arrangement on the Catalytic Performance of Metal Hydrides
Presented by Prof. Hairong Guan
Hosted by Prof. Jack Norton
Abstract:
Transition metal hydrides are key intermediates in many catalytic processes including hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, hydroboration, and hydrosilylation reactions. In recent years, the focus has been shifted to developing catalysts based on earth-abundant metals (e.g., manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, and copper), which requires a deeper understanding of how different ligand platforms regulate the reactivity of the metal hydride species. We have been working on two types of tridentate ligand systems featuring the [P,N,P] or [P,P,P] donor set. These ligands can adopt the meridional or facial coordination mode or, in some cases, behave as bidentate ligands. The ligand spatial arrangement including the orientation of the substituents on the donor atoms can have a drastic impact on the overall structures of the metal complexes and ultimately the reactivity the metal hydrides. In this presentation, I will describe our efforts to study the structure-reactivity relationship in the context of designing more efficient and robust catalysts for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions.
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