PhD students

Alkyne metathesis (AM): Catalytic cleavage and re-formation of a triple bond. Molybdenum and tungsten alkylidyne complexes are typical catalysts for this reaction. The development of new AM catalysts and the (mechanistic) investigation of the metathesis of uncommon substrates, such as terminal alkynes, diaminoacetylenes or nitriles, will be addressed in this project.

Polypeptides are polymers, inspired by naturally occurring proteins, which play an important role in signal transmission between cells and other important biological processes. Because of the similarities between polypeptides and proteins, they can mimic the nature of proteins and help to understand complicated biological events. Polypeptides with phosphonate sidechains mimic the features of natural phosphoproteins, which mediate different processes like protein-protein interactions or protein activation and inhibition. In this project the conditions for the synthesis of polypeptides should be optimized by comparing amine- and transition metal-initiated polymerizations.

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Polyolefinc materials have been of great use in numerous products and play a direct role in everyday life. During my PhD thesis I am developing new 3d metal complexes and study their activity towards the sustainable synthesis of olefinic poly- and copolymers.

The aim of the projected investigations is to provide insight into the role of anionic palladium complexes in palladium-catalyzed transformations, particularly in cross coupling reactions. For this purpose, ESI mass spectrometry, ion-mobility spectrometry, ³¹P-NMR-spectroscopy and electrical conductivity measurements shall be applied. The formation of the relevant complexes with different ligands and under various reaction conditions as well as their gas phase reactivity shall be explored in order to gain information on their presence under realistic catalytic conditions and also on the influence of anionic palladium complexes on the course of palladium-catalyzed reactions.

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NHC-stabilized phosphinidyne metal complexes bearing phosphorus instead of nitrogen can be regarded as analogues of imidazolin-2-iminato ligands which are superbasic ligands with a high electron density. Therefore they can act as 2sigma,4pi-electron donors. The project deals with the synthesis of new transition metal complexes with these ligands and analyzing their properties and structures. Further aspects are the investigation of their reactivity and finding applications in homogeneous catalysis.

The goal of my PhD thesis is the synthesis of chiral compounds that contain selenium, sulfur or other chalcogens. They shall be used as catalysts in asymmetric alkene functionalization reactions, such as amination and oxidation reactions, as well as cyclization reactions.

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