New Phosphorus- and Boron-Containing Allene Analogues for Small Molecule Activation and Catalysis

EPSRC : Vesela Zarkina : EP/R513209/1

This project will develop new abundant-element systems for catalytically relevant chemistry. It will establish phosphorus/boron containing alternatives of a key class of compounds called allenes. The development of abundant-element chemistry, capable of the powerful synthetic transformations, traditionally enabled by precious metals, is key to reducing environmental damage and meeting the global economy requirements.

This placement aims to overcome a central disadvantage of main-group element containing systems compared to precious metal ones: their limited coordination sites for chemical activation. This will be achieved by the synthesis of phosphorus/boron containing allenes which will be used for the chemical activation of small molecules such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

This will provide fundamental knowledge required for further advances in metal-free catalysis and establish a new collaboration between two of the top main-group chemistry researchers leading the Stephan group at the University of Toronto and the Cowley group at the University of Edinburgh.