Showing 1 - 7 of 7 Items
Synthesis of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes of Coinage Metals and Their Application in the Activation of Hydrogen
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Maryam Akramova
Access: Open access
- The main cause of the ongoing global climate crisis is the emission of greenhouse gases, and current climate reports emphasize the need to transition to low-emission renewable energy sources. Urgently needed are methods for storing renewable energy, such as synthetic fuels like hydrogen (H2) gas; however, a challenge to the widespread implementation of hydrogen fuel is its low volumetric energy density. This thesis describes an effort to synthesize a catalyst that takes advantage of hard-soft acid-base (HSAB) mismatches to activate H2 and facilitate its reaction with CO2 to form hydrocarbon fuels, thereby providing a sustainable means of storing renewable energy in high-density carbon-neutral fuels. The catalyst design features an exceptionally bulky N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand known as IPr** (3-Bis[2,6-bis[bis(4-tert-butylphenyl)methyl]-4-methylphenyl]-1H-imidazol-3-ium chloride), a coinage metal acting as a soft acid, and a hard base such as an alkoxide ion. Herein is reported a modified synthetic route of IPr**, along with its metalation with silver, and preliminary results of the addition of an alkoxide base. The ligand and its complex with silver are structurally characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Further work is needed to complete the characterization of IPr**-supported HSAB mismatch complexes and investigate their potential to activate H2.
Ionic Liquids as Additives for Metal-Organic Framework Crystallization Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2027-06-01
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Oliver Wang
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Activation of Hydrogen by Sterically Modulated Coinage Metal Catalysts via Mutual Quenching of Hard/Soft Acid/Base Mismatches
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Zach Leibowitz
Access: Open access
- To mitigate the devastating environmental impacts of climate change in the coming decades, it is imperative that we replace the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric. As these renewable energy sources are inherently intermittent, there exists a need for sustainable mechanisms to store renewable energy for later use. While the direct use of dihydrogen (H2) as a combustible fuel would allow for energy storage without the harmful release of carbon dioxide (CO2) upon combustion, the practicality of H2 as a synthetic fuel is limited by its low volumetric energy density. Combining sustainable H2 production (e.g. electrolysis using energy from renewable sources) with subsequent carbon fixation (e.g. the hydrogenation of CO2) represents a promising pathway to the sustainable production of high-density synthetic fuels. We hypothesize that such a process could be catalyzed by an IPr**-supported catalyst containing a hard/soft acid/base (HSAB) mismatch, with a polarizable coinage metal acting as a soft acid. As such, the aim of our project is the construction of a catalogue of IPr**-supported copper, silver, and gold catalysts that we anticipate will facilitate the heterolysis of dihydrogen and subsequent hydrogenation of CO2. In the present paper, we report the synthesis and characterization of an IPr**-silver complex which will serve as a precursor to many of our proposed HSAB mismatch catalysts and discuss next steps as we construct our catalogue of catalysts.
An Exploration of the Room Temperature Growth and Tuning of Cobalt Hydroxide Carbonate Morphologies and Assemblies Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2026-06-01
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Zubin Jay Kenkare
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Phenylisonitrile Ligand Synthesis and Coordination to Cobalt to Form a Catalyst for the Selective Dimerization of Linear Alpha Olefins Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2026-06-01
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Colleen Hughes McAloon
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Synthesis and Metalation of a Bifunctional Ligand for Hydrogen Activation This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-18
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Eliana Roberts
Access: Embargoed
Computational Investigation of the Ground States and Luminescent Excited States of Ruthenium(II) and Platinum(II) Photoactive Complexes: Insights into the Design of New Ruthenium(II)-Based Molecular Photocatalysts and Enhanced Understanding of Metal-Metal Bonded Exciplexes Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2020-01-01
Creator: Thomas Regan
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community