Title:	Mechanistic Studies of Transition Metal Catalyzed C-O Bond Cleavage in Alcohols
DNr:	SNIC 2014/1-251
Project Type:	SNIC Medium Compute
Principal Investigator:	Joseph Samec <joseph.samec@su.se>
Affiliation:	Uppsala universitet
Duration:	2014-09-01 – 2015-09-01
Classification:	10405 10402
Homepage:	http://www.kemi.uu.se/Research/principal-investigators/joseph-samec/?languageId=1
Keywords:

Abstract

While petroleum based carbon sources consists of hydrocarbons biomass consists of alcohols. In order to use biomass in synthesis we need to develop more efficient methodologies to substitute the hydroxyl group in alcohols by different nucleophiles. While the traditional methodologies make use of stoichiometric reagents we plan to develop catalytic methodologies. All projects that we are researching in are based on the mechanistic understanding of C–O bond activation of alcohols. By studying the reaction pathway in detail, we want to develop a catalytic nucleophilic substitution of alcohols. The practical work involves: Isolate intermediates and characterize them by NMR and X-ray; Study the kinetics and deuterium kinetic isotope effects; Perform DFT calculations; Optimize the reaction parameters and evaluate the substrate scoop.