Monday, 4 September 4:00pm – 5:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 4

Speaker: Dr Annie Colebatch, Australian National University

Host: Dr Johnny Liu

Title: Ligand design for cooperative bimetallic complexes

Abstract: While metal-ligand cooperativity is a well-established approach in transition metal catalysis, metal-metal cooperativity remains an emerging strategy.^1-2 Work in this field has shown that catalysts that operate via cooperative mechanisms can lead to differing reactivity and selectivity profiles compared to conventional monometallic catalysts. Ligand design has emerged as an important criterion to consider when designing systems capable of metal-metal cooperativity, and even metal-metal-ligand cooperativity.³ This presentation will outline our work towards bimetallic complexes capable of metal-metal or metal-metal-ligand cooperativity featuring 2,7-disubstituted-1,8-naphthyridine ligands. These rigid frameworks contain adjacent binding pockets capable of housing two metals in close proximity, but we have found that judicious selection of both the ligand architecture and the metal fragments is essential. Work detailing the synthesis and reactivity of bimetallic 1,8- naphthyridine complexes will be presented, encompassing systems with innocent ligands,⁴ non-innocent ligands,⁵ and redox-active ligands.⁶

References:

1. Stevens, M. A.; Colebatch, A. L. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2022, 51, 1881-1898.
2. Maity, R.; Birenheide, B. S.; Breher, F.; Sarkar, B. ChemCatChem 2021, 13, 2337-2370.
3. Wang, Q.; Brooks, S. H.; Liu, T.; Tomson, N. C. Chem. Commun. 2021, 57, 2839-2853.
4. Delaney, A. R.; Yu, L.-J.; Coote, M. L.; Colebatch, A. L. Dalton Trans. 2021, 50, 11909-11917.
5. Delaney, A. R.; Yu, L.-J.; Doan, V.; Coote, M. L.; Colebatch, A. L. Chem. Eur. J., 2023, 29, e202203940.
6. Hall, P. D.; Stevens, M. S.; Wang, J. Y. J.; Pham, L. N.; Coote, M. L.; Colebatch, A. L. Inorg. Chem. 2022, 61, 19333-19343.

Bio: Annie completed her undergraduate degree and PhD at the Australian National University. She received an Endeavour Research Fellowship to work at the University of Bath with Prof Michael Hill, followed by postdoctoral appointments at the University of Oxford with Prof Andrew Weller and the University of Cambridge with Prof Dominic Wright. She returned to the ANU in 2019 as a Rita Cornforth Fellow to establish her independent research on the design of cooperative bimetallic complexes and catalysts. Annie was awarded an ARC DECRA (2020-2023), an Australian Academy of Science J. G. Russell Award (2020) and a RACI Rita Cornforth Lectureship (2022).