Abstract:
Titanium is an ideal metal for green and sustainable catalysis—it is the 2nd most earth-abundant transition metal, and the byproducts of Ti reactions (TiO2) are nontoxic. However, a significant challenge of utilizing early transition metals for catalytic redox processes is that they typically do not undergo facile oxidation state changes because of the thermodynamic stability of their high oxidation states. We have recently discovered that Ti imidos (LnTi=NR) can catalyze oxidative nitrene transfer reactions from diazenes via a TiII/TiIV redox couple, and are using this new mode of reactivity to develop a large suite of practical synthetic methods. In this talk, our latest synthetic and mechanistic discoveries related to Ti nitrene transfer catalysis will be discussed, including new synthetic methods for the modular, selective construction of pyrroles via [2+2+1] cycloaddition of alkynes with Ti nitrenes and alkynes, as well as new methods for catalytic oxidative amination of other unsaturated organics by Ti nitrenes.
Bio: Ian Tonks is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He received his B.A. in Chemistry from Columbia University in 2006, and performed undergraduate research with Prof. Ged Parkin. He earned his Ph.D. in 2012 from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked with Prof. John Bercaw on olefin polymerization catalysis and early transition metal-ligand multiply bonded complexes. After postdoctoral research with Prof. Clark Landis at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, he began his independent career at the University of Minnesota in 2013. His current research interests are focused on the development of earth abundant, sustainable catalytic methods using early transition metals. Prof. Tonks’ work in this area has recently been recognized with an Outstanding New Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health, the 2017 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the 2018 University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.
