Organoiron clusters for controlled redox active catalysis

Nature often controls the flow of electrons in important redox reactions by the use of iron clusters. These multimetallic assemblies facilitate electron flux far more readily than single metal sites and are used in a wide number of metalloenzymes for processes as diverse as nitrogen fixation to ammonia, water splitting and radical based C-C bond-formation. Each of the processes either currently has or potentially could have a profound impact on society. For instance the Haber process, the artificial variant of nitrogen fixation, accounts for two-thirds of the nitrogen in your body, yet this is an incredible energy intensive process, accounting for around 3% of annual global CO2 emissions. Water splitting will ultimately form the basis of the hydrogen economy, once the challenges associates with oxygen oxidation have been surmounted. Catalytic radical-based C-C bond-formation has a huge potential to 'green' much of chemical synthesis. In this project, we will 'borrow' the structural concepts of Nature's iron clusters, but combine these with organometallic chemistry, to produce new or seldom explored constructs that will show novel redox properties which we will attempt to exploit in these three classes of transformations.