CAREER: Electron-primed photocatalysis as a platform to expand aryl radical reactions

With the support of the Chemical Synthesis Program in the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Zachary Wickens of the University of Wisconsin – Madison will explore new ways to rapidly synthesize compounds that are important to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries using more sustainable processes. Dr.

Wickens and his team are designing a family of catalysts that combine electrical and visible light energy to drive energetically demanding reactions under safe, selective, and mild reaction conditions. These studies are expected to enable the development of new reactions useful for the assembly of complex molecules from inexpensive building blocks that are underutilized because they are inert to all but the harshest chemical reagents.

In parallel with these research activities, Dr. Wickens will work to advance educational and outreach initiatives to increase the accessibility of organic chemistry through student-centered teaching innovations and collaborations with local artists to cultivate interest in science among the community.

Dr. Zachary Wickens and his research group are developing new strategies to promote thermodynamically challenging reductions under mild conditions. Strong reductants, such as alkali metals, possess a sufficient thermodynamic driving force to induce reactivity from even the most reductively recalcitrant molecules; however, these reagents are typically limited to polar reaction manifolds.

In contrast, visible-light photoredox catalysis is a powerful strategy to selectively promote radical chemistry but the energy from visible light alone is insufficient to match the reduction potentials of alkali metals. The Wickens laboratory is working to bridge this gap and using electrochemistry to generate persistent radical anion photocatalysts with excited state reduction potentials far beyond conventional photoredox catalysis.

These studies are expected to enable previously inaccessible transformations of abundant feedstocks under sustainable conditions. Synergistically, these research activities are providing training for a diverse cohort of graduate and undergraduate students and Dr. Wickens is also developing a new graduate-level course to facilitate the transition to graduate school.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.