Low-coordinate main-group chemistry: Phosphorus and Borondoped aromatic compounds

This project will focus on the design, synthesis, reactivity and electronic properties of main-groupelement doped aromatic hydrocarbons. Our ambition is to generate fundamental understanding of reactivity, bonding and electronic structure in such compounds and to develop new classes of heterocycles that are relevant to materials chemistry (e.g. as emissive or conducting materials).

The project will build on previous work in the Cowley group, which has explored the reactivity of P=B double bonds and established phosphaborenes as reagents for the simultaneous incorporation of phosphorus and boron into unsaturated organic compounds (see for example: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2017, 56, 99539957).