Understanding Nickel Catalysis at the Molecular Level: Insights into C-O Functionalization and Electron Transfer Events

Identifier:  TDX:4043

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX4043

Authors:  Day, Craig

Abstract:
Global concerns surrounding the sustainable manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, materials, and commodity chemicals have led chemists to pursue milder, catalytic transformations with improved atom- and step-economy. My thesis has focused on tackling this challenge and contributed to the understanding and development of multiple synthetic methodologies under the supervision of Ruben Martin at the Institut Català d'Investigació Química (ICIQ), with 7 high impact articles in Nature Catalysis, JACS, ACIE, and ACS Catalysis. This thesis provides a mechanistic study of nickel-catalyzed C-O bond functionalization reactions of phenol derivatives in which previously unreported, yet general decomposition pathways in nickel-catalyzed reactions are discovered which lead to a reduction in the reaction efficiency and substrate scope. Further studies aimed to elucidate the reactivity of polypyridine ligated nickel catalysts which have has found tremendous success in organic synthesis and has reinvented many classical synthetic approaches to form molecules were performed. The effect of strong reductants such as magnesium on reductive coupling reactions employing redox active bipyridine ligands is studied and a highly reduced bipyridine magnesium complex is isolated along with, to our knowledge the first magnesium stabilized electride reported. Other studied into electron transfer have gained new understanding of reactions that occur in the majority of nickel-catalyzed reactions and are responsible for governing catalyst commitment towards on-cycle or off-cycle species. In conclusion, we have identified new fundamental organometallic reactivity and key organometallic intermediates that are relevant for the development of synthetic methodologies and for future mechanistic investigations.