Sustainable Hydrocarbon Functionalization Enabled by Base-Metal Catalysis

• Applicant: Dr. Osama El-Sepelgy
• Subject Area: Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456582392

The discovery of innovative technologies for minimizing the overall footprint of chemical processes ranks among the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. A revolutionary approach would be the direct functionalization of the abundant hydrocarbon feedstock to high-value products, avoiding the pre-functionalization of substrates and generation of undesired chemical waste, and reducing the specific energy requirement. However, industrial applications of the challenging C-H activation chemistry continue to be scarce. That is largely due to the need of expensive noble metal catalysis and chemical oxidants, high reaction temperature and toxic solvents. Additionally, the reported C-H activation chemistry mainly involves the functionalization of the less challenging C(sp2)-H bonds, leaving the unactivated C(sp3)-H bond functionalization underdeveloped. The prime objective of the proposed research program is to address the above mentioned drawbacks through the development of eco-friendly, generally applicable, sustainable catalysis as an enabling technology for the selective functionalization of aliphatic C-H bonds. The proposed tactics involve the discovery of unprecedented concepts through the employment of earth-abundant base-metal catalysis and its merger with the renewable visible light available from the sun. A dream process would be direct functionalization of the hydrocarbon feedstock catalyzed by an inexpensive base metal catalyst at room temperature in the absence of the waste-producing chemical oxidants. In order to facilitate the discovery of improved catalytic systems, all envisioned mechanisms will be studied rigorously by spectroscopic and computational tools. We are strongly convinced that achieving this goal, albeit being highly challenging, is extremely attractive towards the paradigm shift to unlimited sustainable industrial applications.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants