Fundamental organometallic chemistry studies towards the development of sustainable catalytic methodologies with Earth-abundant metals
Contact info:
Dr. Alicia Casitas
alicia.casitas@udg.edu
Tel. (+34) 972 41 94 06
Selected publications
Claros, M.; Ungeheuer, F.; Franco, F.; Martin-Diaconescu V.; Casitas, A.*; Lloret-Fillol, J.*
Reductive Cyclization of Unactivated Alkyl Chlorides with Tethered Alkenes under Visible?Light Photoredox Catalysis
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 58 (2019), 4869-4874
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201812702
Casitas, A.*, Krause, H., Lutz, S., Bill, E., Goddard, R.; Fürstner, A.*
Ligand Exchange on and Allylic C-H Activation by Iron(0) Fragments: ?-Complexes, Allyliron Species and Metallacyles.
Organometallics, 37 (2018), 729-739
DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.7b00571
Casitas, A., Rees, J., Goddard, R., Bill, E., DeBeer, S., Fürstner A.*
Two Exceptional Homoleptic Iron(IV) Tetraalkyl Complexes
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 14 (2017), 10108-10113
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201612299
Call, A., Casadevall, C., Acuña-Parés, F., Casitas, A., Lloret-Fillol, J.*
Dual cobalt–copper light-driven catalytic reduction of aldehydes and aromatic ketones in aqueous media
Chem. Sci, 8 (2017), 4739-4749
DOI: 10.1039/C7SC01276D
Casitas, A., Krause, H., Goddard, R., Fürstner, A.*
Elementary Steps of Iron Catalysis: Exploring the Links between Iron Alkyl and Iron Olefin Complexes for their Relevance in C-H Activation and C-C Bond Formation
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 54 (2015), 1521-1526
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201410069
I graduated in chemistry at the University of Girona in 2007 (Spain). I received my PhD from the University of Girona under the supervision of Dr. Miquel Costas and Dr. Xavi Ribas in June 2012. I contributed to a great extent in the elucidation of the reactivity of well-defined aryl-CuIII complexes towards C-heteroatom bond-forming reactions. During the graduate period I worked in the group of Prof. Shannon S. Stahl at University of Madison-Wisconsin (US, 2009) for three months, establishing a fruitful collaboration between both research groups.
I did a second research stay in the group of Prof. Matthew J. Gaunt at University of Cambridge (UK, 2011), where I contributed to the field of copper catalysis. For my postdoctoral studies, I joined the group of Prof. Alois Fürstner at the Max-Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung (Germany) in 2013 as a Ramón Areces Fellow.
I worked on the synthesis of novel organometallic iron complexes and their structural and electronic characterization as well as their employment in C-H activation and cross-coupling reactions. In 2016 I joined the group of Dr. Julio Lloret-Fillol at Institut Català d’Investigació Química (ICIQ) in Spain, funded with a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Fellowship to work in the field of visible-light photoredox catalysis. Since July 2018 I am a JuniorLeader LaCaixa Fellow at Institut de Química Computacional i Catàlisi (IQCC).
In my current position I lead a research project aiming at the development of more sustainable chemical processes with naturally abundant first-row transition metals.
My research focuses on applying a bottom-up approach towards catalysts design while introducing innovative concepts in base-metal homogeneous catalysis. This basic research involving naturally abundant transition metals (Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu) aspires to provide the state-of-the-art catalysts to solve long-standing challenging organic transformations. In addition, my goal is to contribute to the development of more sustainable catalytic methodologies for the industrial production of chemicals, thus, facing one of the major challenges of our future society. To this endeavor, I have gained a multidisciplinary background, spanning from the traditional areas of organic and organometallic chemistry to photocatalysis. The integration of modern spectroscopic and theoretical methods in my research is essential for performing mechanistic investigations and shedding light into the characterization of reaction intermediates. These studies are currently devoted to tackle fundamental questions in the field of C-H functionalization reactions and C-heteroatom bond forming reactions.
Merve Gözdenur Demirbek
MACMoM student
Supervisor:
- A. Casitas
LaCaixa Bank Foundation. Junior Leader LaCaixa Postdoctoral Fellowship – retaining programme
Project: Development of Sustainable Chemical Processes with Earth-abundant Metals (SUSCHEMEARTH project)
Researcher: Dr. Alicia Casitas
Reference: LCF/BQ/LR18/11640006
Funding: 305.700 €
Period: 2018 – 2021
