Research Projects

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an indispensable precursor in the chemical industry for producing feedstock chemicals. CO is a well-established ligand among transition metals, while its ability to bind to a main-group element center poses challenges. Organometallic compounds of transition metals have played a key role in transforming carbon monoxide into valuable organic compounds. The advent of molecular p-block compounds mimicking transition metal type reactivity has opened up new areas to explore main group compounds in CO activation. The proposed project envisages exploring main group compounds as potential alternatives to catalysts based on fast-depleting precious transition metals - Re, Ru, Os, Rh, Ir, Pt, and Pd. The proposed project assumes importance because the reports on the main group carbonyl are scarce and restricted to boron and silicon. CO compounds of earth-abundant aluminum and the environmentally benign bismuth are elusive. CO reduction can occur at various levels, from aldehydes to alkanes, but such transformations are not explored with the main group elements. Thus the proposed project will systematically look into the main group carbonyls in a group-wise manner and demonstrate their applicability in converting CO into industrially relevant feedstock chemicals. The fundamental principles governing CO activation at main group elements will be deciphered. Periodic trends in the reactivity and functionalization of CO will be elucidated. The results derived from the proposed project will provide insights for transforming CO into formaldehyde, methanol and methane, and higher-order hydrocarbons.