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Current Activities

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The projects in our group typically involve transition metal or main group organometallic chemistry but are diverse and cover a wide variety of synthetic and mechanistic work. The ideal-case research scheme consists of: 1) discovery of a new reaction or a ligand environment; 2) demonstration of unusual reactivity, structural, or electronic novelty; 3) application of the findings to develop a new catalytic process.

We dedicate significant efforts to designing new chelating ligands, particularly pincer-type ligands and tripodal ligands. We are also interested in accessible highly electrophilic main group species (e.g., silylium cations) and complementary weakly coordinating anions.

A new reaction often involves a new way to break a challenging bond. We look for inventive ways to use transition metals to cleave C-H, C-X and other bonds of interest. Rigid chelating ligands are used in our group to support structurally unusual molecules: hypercoordinate main group complexes, group 4 alkylidenes and alkylidynes. In the context of conversion of solar energy and water to fuels, we are exploring non-biological approaches to oxygen production.

Transition metal catalysts supported by our designer ligands can be used for catalytic reactions for organic synthesis: aryl-aryl coupling, hydrogenation, aldol-type coupling, etc. The chemistry of highly electrophilic main group derivatives allows for catalytic defluorination of "super-greenhouse-gas" fluroorganic compounds (HFC, CFC) under mild conditions. The Ozerov group is a member of Powering the Planet, an NSF-sponsored Center for Chemical Innovation tackling the conversion of solar energy to fuels. As part of Powering the Planet, we are exploring non-biological approaches to oxygen-oxygen bond formation.

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Selected Publications

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Zhu, Y.; Smith, D. A.; Herbert, D. E.; Gatard, S.; Ozerov, O. V. "C-H and C-O Oxidative Addition in Reactions of Aryl Carboxylate with a PNP Pincer-Ligated Rh(I) Fragment", Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 218-220.

Herbert, D. E.; Ozerov, O. V. "Binuclear Palladium Complexes Supported by Bridged Pincer Ligands", Organometallics 2011, 30, 6641-6654.

Smith, D. A.; Ozerov, O. V. "Early-Late Heterobimetallic Rh-Ti and Rh-Zr Complexes via Addition of Early Metal Chlorides to Mono- and Divalent Rhodium", Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 10779-10781.

Puri, M.; Gatard, S.; Smith, D. A.; Ozerov, O. V. "Competition Studies of Oxidative Addition of Aryl Halides to the (PNP)Rh Fragment", Organometallics 2011, 30, 2472-2482.

Huacuja, R.; Graham, D. J.; Fafard, C. M.; Chen, C.-H.; Foxman, B. M.; Herbert, D. E.; Alliger, G.; Thomas, C. M.; Ozerov, O. V. "Reactivity of a Pd(I)-Pd(I) Dimer with O₂: Monohapto Pd Superoxide and Dipalladium Peroxide in Equilibrium", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 3820-3823.

Gu, W.; McCulloch, B. J.; Reibenspies, J. H.; Ozerov, O. V. "Improved Methods for the Halogenation of the [HCB₁₁ H₁₁]– Anion", Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 2820-2822.

Gu, W.; Haneline, M. R.; Douvris, C.; Ozerov, O. V. "Carbon?Carbon Coupling of C(sp³)–F Bonds Using Alumenium Catalysis", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 11203-11212.

Douvris, C.; Ozerov, O. V. "Hydrodefluorination of Perfluoroalkyl Groups Using Silylium-Carborane Catalysts", Science 2008, 321, 1188-1190.