Carbon-Carbon Bond Activation with Main Group Metals

Nearly all value-added products in the chemical sector contain chains built from carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds. This includes fuels, polymers, surfactants, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Arguably the C-C bond is the most important molecular linkage in modern society. It is extremely difficult to break C-C bonds in a controlled manner. These bonds are strong. They are buried deep within the scaffold of the molecule and are surrounded by a forest of carbon-hydrogen bonds, which tend to be the first site of attack for chemical reagents or catalysts. If efficient, selective, and sustainable methods could be developed to break C-C bonds it could change how we approach chemical manufacturing and lead to long-term societal impact. These methods could underpin original approaches to add value to molecules from biomass and new technologies for the chemical recycling of poly(ethylene). In this project, we will develop methods to break C-C bonds with reagents and catalysts based on main group metals (Mg, Al, Ca, and Zn). This is a new area of research and one that our team has pioneered. We will develop new knowledge on how these metals act to break C-C bonds. Our aim is to understand how structure impacts reactivity and what factors influence the site selectivity (i.e., which bond reacts). We will exploit this fundamental knowledge to create new catalysts that break-down, and add value to, carbon chains with atomic precision. Ultimately, we will apply these methods to important problems including upgrading biomass-derived alkenes and the degradation of hydrocarbon-based polymers.