CAREER: New Chemical Methods Enabled by Visible Light Photocatalysis

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With this CAREER award, the Chemical Synthesis program is supporting the integrated research and education program of Professor Corey Stephenson of the University of Michigan. This research aims to develop green chemical methodologies mediated by visible light sensitization. The methodologies will benefit both laboratory and industrial research by introducing a more efficient, environmentally benign approach for producing biologically active materials for further investigations. This research will also play an important role in the PI's educational plans, both as a training opportunity for students in his laboratory, and also a hands-on experimental module designed to engage high school students in the excitement of interdisciplinary science. Dr. Stephenson reaches out to high school students by participating in the Wolverine Express (an annual statewide high school visitation program) and developing a High School Chemistry Week Program and a course for the Michigan Math and Science Scholars Program.This research investigates operationally simple, catalytic methods that forgo the need for specialized photochemistry equipment, utilizing inexpensive household light bulbs and energy efficient LEDs for irradiation. It aims to develop 1) a general, catalytic approach to radical chemistry taking advantage of ligand dependent redox properties of ruthenium and iridium polypyridine complexes; and 2) a catalytic approach to the activation of carbon-oxygen bond towards nucleophilic displacement reactions.