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Pushing Gold beyond its common redox states

Project description

Exploring gold’s chemical space beyond known oxidation states

Chemical elements are essential in chemistry, physics and biology. However, some elements have limited oxidation states when compared to others. Gold has limited oxidation states, and only Au(I) and Au(III) complexes are known at the molecular level. In this context, the ERC-funded Gold-Redox project will explore the chemical space of gold beyond its current known oxidation states. The project aims to identify ligands that will enable gold to accommodate new oxidation states and develop novel gold complexes ranging from Au(0) to Au(IV) and Au(V). The main challenge is to push gold out of its comfort zone to expand its potential applications. Gold-Redox focuses on ligand design and uses advanced experimental and computational methods for structure–properties analysis.

Objective

The chemical elements are central to chemistry, physics and biology. Exploring their different states and chemical bonding is thus of utmost importance. Yet, 150 years after Mendeleev recognized periodicity in the structure and properties of the elements, there is still much to discover and exploit. Indeed, some elements are still confined to a few oxidation states. This is especially true for gold which, despite major progress over the last decades, lags well behind the other transition metals. At the molecular level, only Au(I) and Au(III) complexes are known essentially.

The aim of Gold-Redox is to expand the chemical space of gold to other oxidation states that remain curiosities or are simply unknown. The bottleneck to overcome is to force gold outside its comfort zone. To this end, I will play with ligand design. I will identify ligands that enable gold to accommodate new oxidation states. Gold complexes in unprecedented forms, from Au(0) to Au(IV) and Au(V), will be designed, prepared and studied. Because of their peculiar electronic structures, these new oxidation states will open novel reactivity paths at gold. Most appealing are single-electron processes and Au(III)/Au(V) cycles.

Targeting new oxidation states and reactivities, Gold-Redox is inherently very exploratory and cutting-edge. To address this high risk-high gain challenge, I will capitalize on my expertise in highly reactive species and gold chemistry. Ligand design (I previously used to create unusual bonding situations such as with -acceptor ligands, and to emulate unprecedented reactivity of Au(I)/Au(III) complexes) will be central, as well as thorough structure-properties analyses by advanced experimental and computational methods. Gold-Redox will provide in-depth fundamental knowledge on novel gold species and will open new avenues in catalysis and photo-catalysis.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2022-ADG

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Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 499 540,00
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 499 540,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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