Research Projects

Dihydrogen molecules (H2) are a potential energy resource for the future hydrogen economy, and methanol is a convenient liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) with a high gravimetric content of hydrogen (12.6%) and less carbon dioxide compared to current gasoline. To convert methanol into a hydrogen resource, various pathways are proposed, including Ru, Rh, and Ir catalysts. However, due to their high cost and limited availability, economically viable non-noble homogeneous metal catalysts are in high demand. Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel are key properties for methanol dehydrogenation due to their cost-effectiveness, electropositive nature, and easy oxidative addition. N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands with sulfoximine and their metal derivatives are not explored in the literature. However, sulfoximine is recognized as versatile motifs in synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. This proposal aims to design new NHC ligands with sulfoximine and utilize them in synthesizing Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel complexes and exploring them as catalysts in the methanol dehydrogenation reaction. Sulfoximine group offers high chemical and metabolic stability, unique physicochemical properties, and multiple hydrogen-bond acceptor/donor functionality with structural diversity. Its nucleophilic and basic nature with a pKa around 2.7 is comparable to triphenylphosphine, but its basicity can be tuned by substituents around hetero atoms. Methanol dehydrogenation to produce hydrogen gas and hydrogen into methanol are significant reversible reactions towards renewable energy resources. This proposal may broaden organometallic chemistry and open up a new branch of ligands for economically viable metal catalysts related to renewable energy.