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PhD ceremony Mr. A. Draksharapu: Shedding light on active species in Fe, Ni and Cu catalysis. Photochemical, spectroscopical and electrochemical studies

When:Fr 13-12-2013 at 09:00
Where:Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

PhD ceremony: Mr. A. Draksharapu

Dissertation: Shedding light on active species in Fe, Ni and Cu catalysis. Photochemical, spectroscopical and electrochemical studies

Promotor(s): prof. W.R. Browne, prof. B.L. Feringa

Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Many of the chemical transformations that chemists strive for in the laboratory are often carried out by nature with remarkable reactivity and selectivity. In sharp contrast to biological systems, manmade structural and functional models of biological systems show often limited reactivity and selectivity when they are employed in catalytic reactions.

Generation of so-called active intermediates, their characterisation with various spectroscopic techniques and understanding their role in catalysis is of direct relevance to understanding their role in biological systems. The synthesis and characterisation of several intermediates such as FeIV=O, FeIII-OR, FeIII-OCl, NiII-OCl and NiII-O are discussed in this thesis. The multi technique approach taken in this work enabled the definitive assignment of several these intermediates.

The work described in this thesis is primarily concerned with the trapping and spectroscopic characterisation of potentially active species formed from first row transition metal complexes in catalysis. Electrochemistry and Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopies are employed extensively to understand the properties of several iron and nickel based intermediates and the interaction of copper complexes with DNA. The goal was to relate speciation analysis to catalytic activity.

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