Dual Ligand-Enabled Palladium Catalysis: Unlocking Novel Reactivities and Selectivities in Aromatic C–H Activation

Project Information

DULICAT

Grant agreement ID: 946044

DOI

10.3030/946044

EC signature date 19 November 2020

Start date 1 August 2021

End date 31 July 2026

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 872 500,00

EU contribution

€ 1 872 500,00

Coordinated by

CHRISTIAN-ALBRECHTS-UNIVERSITAET ZU KIEL
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - DULICAT (Dual Ligand-Enabled Palladium Catalysis: Unlocking Novel Reactivities and Selectivities in Aromatic C–H Activation)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Organic molecules have played a central role in many of the scientific advances that have so dramatically improved our quality of life and life expectancy over the last centuries. It is thus not surprising that a variety of scientific disciplines studies and employs such molecules in multiple contexts from life sciences to engineering. As a consequence, the advance in these research fields is intimately linked to the availability of organic molecules with an ever growing degree of complexity. This implies that basic research towards the synthesis of compounds that would otherwise be challenging or even impossible to prepare bears the potential to stimulate important advances across all those disciplines that require such organic molecules.
In this project, we study the use of a novel class of palladium catalysts, which we have very recently discovered, in order to enable hitherto unprecedented reactivities and selectivities in the palladium catalyzed activation of aromatic C–H bonds. Through this research we expect to enable the synthesis of multiply substituted aromatic compounds with increased efficiency as well as regioselectivity patterns that complement the currently established methodologies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the initial phase of this project, new screening protocols have been estabilshed that enable us an efficient screening for novel reactivities and selectivities. Building upon this, we discovered novel ligands with increased C-H activation activities, which we could then employ for the isotope labelling of pharmacologically active molecules and their analogs. These results could be published in an internationally reputed outlet and communicated in several invited lectures.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In the first months of this project, we could already establish novel ligand motifs that are expected to prove useful in synthetic organic chemistry beyond this project. The isotope labelling method introduced by our lab has raised substantial interest for collaborations/applicattions within the fields of medicinal chemistry and materials chemistry, which is indicative of the substantial future application potential of our methodology.

Isotopic labelling of arenes using dual ligand catalysis