Research projects
Projet de recherche à venir
12 avril 2025
Ligand engineering​
Ligands, the organic molecules bound to a metal, are essential to control the electronic and steric properties of this metal center and therefore its reactivity. We are mainly interested in developing original ligands combining N and P based functionalities. We pay a special attention to iminophosphorane derivatives (P=N) which are strong electron donors. Beyond this classical role, the ligand can directly cooperate with the metal to achieve a specific transformation, this is another aspect we study.
Projet de recherche à venir
12 avril 2025
Catalysis of reduction processes​
Chemicals have been produced for decades from oil sourced feedstocks, this has required the development of efficient oxidation protocols. Nowadays it has become urgent to switch to biomass resources, which are generally oxygen rich molecules. This requires to advance on reduction processes. As we design electron-rich ligands we are particularly interested to combine them with abundant metals such as Co, Fe, Ni, Mn in order to propose efficient catalysts for hydroelementations or (transfer) hydrogenations.
Abundant metal complexes for optics​
Noble metals (such as Pd, Pt, Ru, and Rh..) are largely used in in industry for catalytic reactions but they are also essential for the production of photoactive material and optoelectronic devices. Seeking alternatives has become a necessity and examples have started to emerge. Boosting the properties of base metals supposes to delay the excited-state decay and can be achieved with a proper ligand design. We are currently working in that direction with iminophosphorane ligands.
Hetero-atom enriched metal precursors for Atom Layer Deposition (ALD)​
This project is conducted in collaboration with Dr. N. Schneider (IPVF). ALD is a powerful thin film synthesis technique that allows the deposition of ultra-thin, dense, homogeneous, conformal films under mild conditions (T = 25 - 500°C, P = mbar). Because the process is based on self-limiting surface reactions, the molecular precursor used dictates the growth and the properties of the formed films. Despite the richness of coordination chemistry, the variety of precursors used for ALD deposition remain particularly limited. Keeping in mind the criteria, that these precursors must fulfill we wish to propose new metal precursors, and demonstrate their potential to grow thin film by ALD, thanks to our complementary expertise.
Reductive activation of O2 with bio-inspired Fe complexes​
Nature has devised a variety of enzymes that are able to achieve functionalizations such as oxidation or halogenation reactions in mild conditions, using an abundant metal (generally Fe, Cu, or Mn) and environmentally friendly reagents. This has for long inspired chemists to develop synthetic models. In collaboration with Dr. K. Sénéchal-David and Pr. F. Banse (University Paris-Saclay), we study iron complexes featuring a polydentate mixed nitrogen rich ligand to achieve the direct reductive activation of O2 in order to perform oxidations under mild conditions. Our goal is to adjust the ligand structure to allow the formation of iron superoxo, (hydro)peroxo), or oxo species from O2.