Towards sustainable visible-light driven photo-catalytic materials: Redox non-innocent chromium(III) complexes

Transition metal complexes have found use in a wide variety of applications ranging from light-emitting devices to biological imaging and solar catalysis. However, these materials commonly contain precious metals such as platinum, ruthenium and iridium which are not only expensive but are some of the rarest elements found on Earth. This project will develop new transformative photo-active molecules containing the cheap, Earth-abundant element chromium. These materials will ultimately be used to catalyse useful organic reactions driven only by solar energy, thereby making substantial contributions to the development of inexpensive and environmentally friendly chemical synthesis.