Chemistry Seminar Series: Activation of small molecules on Al(I) and Ga(I) carbenoids: from bond cleavage to coupling reactions

Biographical Information

Prof. Georgii I. Nikonov is currently a Distinguished Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at Brock University (Canada). He obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1995, followed by postdoctoral work with Professor P. Mountford at the University of Nottingham (1995-1996; UK). During 1997-2005, he worked as a Researcher and then Senior Researcher at the Department of Chemistry of Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 2005, Dr. Nikonov moved to Canada and joined the Department of Chemistry at Brock University as an Associate Professor. Since 2010, Dr. Nikonov is a Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Brock University and served as a Chemistry Department Chair during 2019-2022. In 2024, Dr. Nikonov became a Distinguished Professor at Brock University in recognition of his contributions to the university and his research work.

Prof. Nikonov is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC, UK) since 2014 and has served as a member of advisory boards of several international research journals, including Dalton Transactions (RSC), Organometallics (ACS), and ChemistrySelect (Wiley). His academic work has been recognized by several prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Russian State (Presidential) Fellowship for Young Talented Scientists, the European Academy Award for young scientists from NIS, the Royal Society of Chemistry Award for international authors, NSERC Acceleration Award, Faculty of Math and Science Distinguished Researcher Award, Canadian Journal of Chemistry Best Author Award, Dean of Math and Science Distinguished Scholar Award and others.

Prof. Nikonov has published more than 140 research articles and book chapters (Web-of-Science h-index 40, Google Scholar h-index 41). His research interests include transition metal and main group element organometallic chemistry; homogeneous catalysis; new ligand environments; nonclassical bonding.

Abstract

Activation of small molecules by low-valent main group compounds is a hot topic,¹ of which the bond cleavage by carbenoids, electronic analogues of carbene, is the most common.² The NacNac-supported Al(I) and Ga(I) compounds NacNacM have been in the focus of several groups, including ours. In this talk we shall review the results of the past decade of research³ and highlight the increasing complication of reactivity, progressing from bond activation to multicomponent reactions and coupling.⁴

References

1. (a) Power, P. P. Nature 2010, 464, 171. (b) Weetman C.; Inoue, S. ChemCatChem 2018, 10, 4213.
2. Nikonov, G. I.; Chu, T. Chem. Rev. 2018, 118, 3608.
3. Nikonov, G. I. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 9195; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 13306; Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 5993; J. Am. Chem.Soc. 2017, 139, 8804;
4. Nikonov, G. I. et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 18102; Chem. Eur. J. 2020, 26, 206; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 16281; Chem. Eur. J. 2021, 27, 5730; Chem. Comm., 2022, 58, 6946.