Prof. Dr. Polly L. Arnold; Berkeley
When: Thursday, October 10, 2024, 5:15 pm
Where: TUM Department of Chemistry, Science Cinema (Hörsaal CH 26411)
Title: A new class of earth abundant metal catalysts for dinitrogen conversion at ambient conditions
Small scale conversions of dinitrogen that operate under ambient conditions could offer food
and energy justice to remote populations. Chemists have spent more than a century trying to
make catalysts that can convert N2 under mild conditions, and a few catalysts for N2 conversion to
ammonia or tris(silyl)amine have been developed, based on electron rich metals inspired by
nature such as molybdenum.
We have developed a new system, using electron deficient, and earth abundant metals formed
into a metallacyclic cage with aromatic ligands, that traps dinitrogen, and funnels electrons and
electrophiles to the N atoms. These demonstrate the first nitrogen reduction catalysis by rare
earth complexes. We will discuss how these catalysts uniquely enable the selective conversion of
N2 to bis(functionalized) amines.