Research Projects

The selective oxidative functionalization of inert C-H bonds in hydrocarbons is a crucial chemical transformation process, with the chemical industry heavily reliant on these hydrocarbons. The process requires considerable functionalization, which is challenging at ambient reaction conditions due to the inert nature of C-H bonds. However, nature has evolved metalloenzymes that perform hydrocarbon oxidation, forming hydroxylated, halogenated, and desaturated hydrocarbons under ambient conditions. In the biological system, the initial reaction proceeds through the proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) or hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reaction mechanism. First-row transition metal (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) complexes could be naturally facilitators to mild oxidative functionalization of hydrocarbons. Recently, few synthetic high-valent first row late transition metal-oxo/hydroxo (M = Co, Ni, Cu) complexes have been reported, showing HAT reactions. However, there is little attention on the bio-inspired oxidative halogenation reactions by HVLTMX (M = Co, Ni, Cu and X = F, Cl, Br, I) complexes, where only reactive metal-halide species are involved. HVLTMX complexes are expected to be excellent candidates as an oxidation catalyst due to their strong H-X bonds, especially H-F/Cl. This project aims to design and synthesize the next generation molecular oxidation catalyst by designing and examining HVLTMX complexes.