Transition Metal Mediated Activation and Functionalization of Nitrous Oxide

无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目的这一研究奖支持加州大学伯克利分校的约翰·阿诺德教授开展合成化学基础研究，旨在揭示重要温室气体一氧化二氮和二氧化碳的新反应途径。阿诺德小组探索将一氧化二氮用作催化氧化反应的氧源，唯一的副产品是温室友好型氮素。他们方法的第一阶段是发展对一氧化二氮与过渡金属中心结合的性质和N-O键断裂机制的理解。第二阶段包括发展基于一氧化二氮裂解产物的选择性氧原子转移反应。氧化反应对化学工业至关重要，该项目开发的基础技术可能导致使用廉价原料制备商品化学品的新工艺。该项目培训的研究人员接受了尖端合成化学方面的广泛教育，学习如何制备和处理高度敏感和活性的化合物。他们在现代表征技术方面变得非常熟练，并将计算研究的结果应用到进一步的研究中。作为加州大学伯克利分校深厚的外展传统的一部分，研究人员与当地学校的学生互动，让他们参与到与环境和能源有关的问题中。

This Research award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports work by Professor John Arnold at the University of California, Berkeley, to carry out fundamental studies in synthetic chemistry aimed at uncovering new reaction pathways for the important greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. The Arnold group explores the use of nitrous oxide as an oxygen source for catalytic oxidation reactions, with the green house friendly dinitrogen as the only by-product. The first stage of their approach is the development of an understanding of both the nature of nitrous oxide binding to transition metal centers and the mechanism of N-O bond cleavage. The second stage involves development of selective oxygen atom transfer reactions based on the nitrous oxide cleavage product. Oxidation reactions are essential to the chemicals industry, and the fundamental technologies developed in this program could lead to new processes to prepare commodity chemicals using inexpensive feedstocks.Researchers trained under this program receive extensive education in cutting-edge synthetic chemistry, learning how to prepare and handle highly sensitive and reactive compounds. They become highly skilled in modern characterization techniques and apply the results of computational studies to further their research. As part of UC Berkeley's strong tradition of outreach, the researchers interact with students in local schools to engage them in questions relating to the environment and energy.