Chemical Society Seminar: Marc-André-Légaré - Main-Group Metallomimetics: A Computational - Experimental Approach for Metal-Free Catalysis and Nitrogen Fixation
Via Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/97975485389
Abstract:
The importance of transition metals (TMs) in modern catalysis cannot be overstated. TM-based catalysts enable processes that are of tremendous human and economic importance; they have innumerable applications in many industrial sectors. However, the toxicity, price and natural scarcity of many elements that are used in TM catalysis fuel an interest for the development of metal-free catalysts based on the main-group elements.
However, contrary to many catalytically relevant TM complexes, classical main-group compounds do not possess the combination of empty and filled orbitals that is crucial for the complex electronic processes involved in the elemental steps of catalytic cycles. The development of catalysts based on the p-block elements thus requires the design and application of unique strategies. In this seminar, I will present an approach for the rational design of such strategies: combining predictive computational calculations with a bottom-up experimental investigation of metal-free reactions. Results obtained through this method include the use of boron compounds for small-molecule activation, reduction processes, organic functionalization reactions and polymerization of inorganic monomers. I will discuss systems that involve the combination of single and multiple active sites in order to mimic the electronic environment of TM complexes. Similarities and differences in the reactivity of main-group compounds and TM complexes will also be highlighted.
Bio:
Prof. Marc-André Légaré was born in Morges, Switzerland, and grew up in Quebec City, Canada. He received his Ph.D. degree from Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, in 2015, advised by Prof. Frédéric-Georges Fontaine. He subsequently took up a NSERC postdoctoral fellowship in the group of Prof. Holger Braunschweig at the Julius-Maximilians Universität Würzburg, in Germany.
Marc-André is the author of over 30 publications and two patents, including three papers as first author in the prestigious journal Science. His accomplishments include the development of metal-free C-H activation protocols and pioneering the field of main group dinitrogen chemistry.
He has received a number of awards, including the Star Student-Researcher Award from the Fond de Recherche Québécois and the CAS Future Leader Award. He has been Assistant Professor of Green Chemistry at McGill University since 2020.