CAREER: New Stoichiometric and Catalytic Metal-Mediated Reactions

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This CAREER award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research and educational activities in chemical synthesis by Professor Paul Chirik and his research group in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University. The goal of the research is to develop transition metal reagents to induce reactivity in otherwise inert molecules. Professor Chirik and coworkers are particularly interested in learning how the environment around the metal center can be manipulated to induce reactivity with elemental nitrogen, phosphorus and aliphatic carbon-carbon bonds. Ultimately, these studies may allow construction of new pharmaceuticals and other commodity and specialty chemicals from underutilized natural resources. Educational activities connected with this research are designed to demonstrate the vital role chemical synthesis plays in modern society. These concepts will be presented as part of an introductory chemistry course for engineers, a graduate course for first year students, as well as in community programs designed to reach children and adults in the local area.This research strives to fix elemental nitrogen, which can be derived from air, and elemental phosphorous, directly into organic molecules through new methods that could lead to more energy efficient industrial processes. Educational activities will be developed to demonstrate to students both in higher education and in the surrounding community the vital role that chemical synthesis plays in modern society.