Joe Publications

New paper in ChemCatChem

Joe was part of a collaborative project between University of Bern (Switzerland) and Universitat Jaume I (Spain), which was recently published in ChemCatChem. This work describes the use of mesoionic iridium(III)-NHC complexes as catalysts for efficient dehydrogenation of carbohydrates in water. Without the need for additives, these complexes compare were to previous work published by Dr Jose Mata’s group, using imdazolylidene iridium(III) complexes, along with sulfuric acid.

DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202000544R1

Introducing abnormal triazolylidene NHC complexes from the Albrecht lab, allowed for this further enhancement of activity for this interesting reaction, which releases hydrogen from carbohydrate substrates, giving only the carbohydrate acid (e.g. gluconic acid) as a by-product, which has potential utility as a initial platform chemical for further synthesis, derived from biomass feedstocks.

Joe Presentations

Joe speaks at festive RSC Coordination and Organometallic Discussion Group Christmas Meeting

At the annual RSC Coordination and Organometallic Discussion Group Christmas meeting (UCD Dublin), everyone was asked to select an element as the focus of their talk, to celebrate the end of the International Year of the Periodic Table. Joe gave a talk celebrating the versatility of ruthenium complexes. The talk brought together two different project, linked by this transition metal.

  • Joe with his PhD supervisor Thorri and Dawn Barry
  • IYPT presents for attendees

He spoke about the carbohydrate-functionalised Ru-NHC catalysts which were published recently in Dalton Transactions, as well as some Ru(II) coordination complexes (also featuring carbohydrates) which have shown antimicrobial activity (unpublished results, collaboration with Prof Thorri Gunnlaugsson and Dr Ciaran O’Reilly).

It was a very festive meeting, with inorganic chemists from all over Ireland and the UK in attendance – a great chance to catch up with old friends and new.

Joe Publications

New publication in Dalton Transactions

I’m delighted to finally publish this work, the first of my research carried out during my Marie Curie Fellowship in University of Bern to come out. A lot of hard work by Erasmus student Pauline went into gathering data behind this manuscript where we asked the question – what impact would incorporating carbohydrates into the structure of a Ruthenium(II)-triazolylidene complex have on its ability to convert a ketone to an alcohol via transfer hydrogenation catalysis.

There were challenges in isolating the desired compound, so it had to be generated in situ, but we were able to assess the activity, and the results were interesting, and can be found in detail here in Dalton Transactions.

To summarise the conclusions: The carbohydrate functionality does impact catalytic activity (transfer hydrogenation of ketones). In complexes with the glucose directly triazolylidene-bound,  turnover rates were substantially higher when compared to more remote carbohydrate functionalisation (i.e. with an ethylene spacer). Both new complexes, however, have reduced activity compared to  unfunctionalised carbene complexes. Insight was also gained into the nature of the catalytic cycle through a substrate scope analysis.