Executive Summary : | The project proposal aims to explore the applications of well-defined transition metal complexes of redox noninnocent ligands in homogeneous catalysis to provide an alternative to the existing expensive, scarce, and toxic noble metal-based catalysis. New well-defined transition metal complexes of some chosen redox noninnocent ligands will be prepared and thoroughly characterized by various available spectroscopic techniques. Taking advantage of the redox properties of the coordinated ligands, multi-electron chemical transformations, including carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond formation reactions, will be achieved using well-defined 3d-metal catalysts. Efforts will be given to prepare different useful complex molecules, including drug molecules starting the easily available precursors. Utilizing the redox properties of the coordinated ligands, unactivated substrates will be functionalized via single electron transfer (SET) from the ligand to the substrate, in the absence of expensive ruthenium or iridium-based photo-sensitizers. Besides homogeneous catalysis, efforts will also be made to explore the application of this class of complexes in molecular electronic device fabrication. It will open up a new area of molecular electronic device fabrication technology compared to the existing organic and oxide-based semiconductor devices. Control reactions, spectroscopic investigations, and theoretical studies will be performed to understand the reaction mechanism for further development. Overall, the present project proposal is highly interdisciplinary and covers all aspects of chemical reactions of transition metals with selected redox noninnocent ligands, including synthesis, structural characterization, studies of physical properties, and applications in homogeneous catalysis and molecular electronics. |