Please join Yale Chemistry for an Inorganic Chemistry Seminar with Shiyu Zhang, Associate Professor, from Ohio State University.
Abstract: Oxidation of alkanes to primary alcohols poses a significant synthetic challenge due to two conflicting requirements. The oxidant must be sufficiently reactive to activate primary C-H bonds while maintaining selectivity to avoid interference from other C-H bonds with lower bond dissociation energy and prevent over-oxidation of alcohols. In this seminar, I will introduce our journey of developing a dicopper catalyst capable of hydroxylating alkanes to primary alcohols with exclusive selectivity. Our approach involves initial C-H hydroxylation of any sp3 C-H bonds in the substrates followed by selective migration of the alcohol group to a primary C-H position. This new “chain-walking” mechanism is enabled by the inverted ligand field of copper alkyl intermediates. The use of mildly oxidizing dicopper oxo species circumvents the common issue of over-oxidation, affording n-alcohols in high yields.
For more information on Prof. Zhang’s research: https://research.cbc.osu.edu/zhang.8941/research/
Faculty Host: Prof. Pat Holland
This seminar can be viewed online here: Panopto