The Power of Earth Abundant Main Group Elements: New Horizons in Bond Activations and Catalysis

Title: The Power of Earth Abundant Main Group Elements:  New Horizons in Bond Activations and Catalysis 

Speaker: Professor Shigeyoshi Inoue, TUM

Abstract: Recent developments in main group chemistry are largely attributed to the isolation of stable low-valent/oxidation state main group compounds capable of catalyzing chemical transformations, as well as exhibiting transition-metal-like behavior and bonding modes. The use of reactive main group compounds (i.e. silicon and aluminium) may offer a cost-efficient and non-toxic alternative to many current transition metal-based industrial processes. Recently, we have successfully synthesized silyl-substituted low-valent silicon and aluminium compounds. These compounds show unique reactivity and are capable of activating various small molecules under very mild reaction conditions, and can also act as (pre)catalysts. In addition, we employed N-heterocyclic imines (NHIs) and N-heterocyclic-phosphinidene-carbenes (NHCPs) as ligands to isolate novel low-valent silicon and aluminium complexes and found their intriguing reactivity towards various small molecules. This presentation will discuss the synthesis, isolation, and reactivity of selected silicon and aluminum compounds. Unique bond activation of various small molecules, bottom-up synthesis of clusters, and homogeneous catalysis using earth-abundant main group compounds will be presented.

Bio: Professor Shigeyoshi Inoue studied at the University of Tsukuba, earning B.Sc. and M.Sc. under the supervision of Prof Akira Sekiguchi. He remained in the Sekiguchi group to carry out his doctoral studies, obtaining his PhD in 2008. As an Alexander von Humboldt grantee and a JSPS grantee, he spent the academic year 2008-2010 at the Technical University of Berlin in the group of Prof Matthias Drieß. In 2010 he established an independent research group as a Sofja Kovalevskaja Professor at the Technical University of Berlin. Since 2015 he has been on the faculty at the Technical University of Munich, where he holds a chair of silicon chemistry.