BECAME SIGNED

Project "BECAME" data sheet

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 Project objective

One of the remaining primary challenges in modern chemistry is the development of clean, energy- and cost-efficient catalytic processes that can allow to convert simple and abundant chemical feedstocks into high value-added products. Given the vast reserves of methane from natural gas, available worldwide, the direct use of the simplest alkane as source of fuels and chemicals could have a great impact in our society. However, methane´s low intrinsic reactivity has rendered its use extremely difficult for purposes beyond aerobic combustion and the production of syngas. Despite some recent advances in the field, a general strategy for a diverse and versatile use of methane is elusive. The overall aim of this proposal is the development of a new paradigm in catalysis which can provide new catalytic processes that allow direct methane functionalization by using it as a methylating reagent in a variety of C-C bond forming reactions. The approach described in this proposal is based on a cooperative interaction between two transition metal complexes in which an early transition metal is responsible for the methane C-H activation and a late transition metal is the actual catalyst of the methylation process. The link between these two processes is a transmetalation step and will be used to transfer the mechanism of typical cross-coupling reactions to the field of methane functionalization. New pathways for the direct use of methane in reactions such as allylic alkylation, conjugate addition, cross-coupling, C-H methylation and alkene hydromethylation will be developed based on this novel bimetallic catalytic strategy. It is envisioned that the proposed research will lead to a new concept at the interface of catalytic cross coupling reactions and C-H activation. It will contribute to the fundamental understanding of these two reactions and will provide the basis for a new technology for energy efficient and environmentally friendly, thus sustainable, methane conversion.