Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 4-25-2022

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Jonah Jurss

Second Advisor

Jason Ritchie

Third Advisor

Walter Cleland

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This thesis focuses on two research projects. The first project reported in Chapter 1 involves the synthesis and application of a tetradentate ligand (2-(1,1-di(pyridin-2-yl)ethyl)-1,10-phenanthroline, PhenPY2Me) that is metalated with iron to give a catalyst capable of carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond oxidation. C-H bond oxidation provides a method that may allow some transformations in organic syntheses to be streamlined. The mononuclear iron complex supported by PhenPY2Me was found to dimerize in the presence of O2 in a non-coordinating solvent. These iron complexes and a previously reported system were assessed and compared in C-H bond oxidation with model substrates using the sacrificial oxidant meta-chloroperbenzoic acid (mCPBA). It was found in cyclohexane oxidation that including scandium(III) triflate (Sc3+) as an additive to the reaction mixture increases the turnover number of the catalysts while selecting for the alcohol (cyclohexanol) over the ketone (cyclohexanone). The second project reported in Chapter 2 involves the synthesis of a pentadentate ligand (6-((1,4,7-triazonan-1-yl)methyl)-2,2'-bipyridine, BpyTacn) that will be applied to catalytic carbon dioxide reduction. The increased prevalence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has led to a greater need to develop catalysts capable of reducing carbon dioxide. Converting carbon dioxide into a more usable form would allow for net carbon emissions to be reduced. The use of a catalyst allows this process to occur in a more energetically favorably way. The synthesis of the ligand is discussed and preliminary cyclic voltammetry data with the corresponding cobalt complex shows a current enhancement in the presence of CO2 that is indicative of catalytic activity.

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.