Special Chemistry Seminar, Presented by Prof. Deryn E. Fogg, University of Ottawa
Frontiers in Olefin Metathesis: Toward Realization of a Nobel Promise
Presented by Prof. Deryn E. Fogg
Hosted by Prof. Tom Rovis
Abstract:
Olefin metathesis is an exceptionally versatile methodology for the catalytic assembly of carbon-carbon bonds. Long embraced by synthetic chemists in discovery operations in academia and industry, molecular metathesis catalysts are now beginning to see uptake in ambitious applications: in process chemistry in pharma, in chemical biology, and in the valorization of renewable feedstocks and plastic wastes (Figure 1a). This is a welcome development, as metathesis has tremendous potential to reduce the environmental footprint associated with chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. However, these demanding contexts reveal major limitations arising from short catalyst lifetimes.
The pathways by which the important ruthenium catalysts deactivate or decompose are now coming into focus. We believe that such understanding is key to designing better processes and, ultimately, better catalysts. Insights will be described into the operation and decomposition of key metathesis catalysts, including the most recent generation of high-performing catalysts (Figure 1b). These will be tied to key challenges and new opportunities relating to catalyst design, synthesis, and deployment. More broadly, these studies highlight the importance of understanding catalysis decomposition, a little-explored frontier in molecular catalysis.
Bio:
Deryn Fogg is a full professor at the University of Ottawa, and Professor II at the University of Bergen in Norway.
She received a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1994, where she studied catalytic hydrogenation with Brian James. Following postdoctoral research on polymer-quantum dot composites with Dick Schrock and Moungi Bawendi at MIT, she took up a faculty position at Ottawa in 1997, where she has been Full Professor since 2007. A major focus of her research is the interplay between mechanism, implementation, and catalyst design in olefin metathesis and tandem catalysis, and the development and deployment of new tools for insight into catalysis. Her pioneering work on catalyst decomposition pathways in olefin metathesis is now recognized as a new paradigm for design in molecular catalysis.
Prof. Fogg was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2014. She was a Visiting Fellow of Magdalen College (Oxford) in 2015, U.C. Berkeley’s Student-Selected Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in 2017, and the University of British Columbia’s Chemistry Graduate Student Society Distinguished Lecturer in 2022. In winter 2024, she will be a Visiting Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University, NYC. Other honours include the 2020 Rio Tinto Award (the top honour of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) in inorganic or electrochemistry), Ontario’s Polanyi Prize in Chemistry, a Canada-wide NSERC Discovery Accelerator award, and the CSC’s Strem Award for Inorganic Chemistry. She is Permanent Secretary of the International Symposium on Homogeneous Catalysis (ISHC), a former Associate Editor of the American Chemical Society journal Organometallics, and a member of the International Advisory Boards of the International Symposium on Olefin Metathesis (ISOM) and the International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC). From 2000-2009, she chaired “Bacon & Eggheads”, a breakfast lecture series for Canadian Parliamentarians that presents leading Canadian research with important implications for federal decision-makers.
Learn more about the Fogg Group here!