Understanding the coordination behavior of iminopyridine ligands for CO2 reduction

Transition metal complexes exhibit various colors due to their electronic structure, which can be tuned using coordination chemistry. These complexes can work as photo and electrocatalysts for small molecule activation, which can transform greenhouse gases into useful chemical feedstock. This project involves the synthesis of various ligands, their complexation to silver—which can be replaced by another metal through a transmetallation reaction—and their characterization. Silver is acting as a placeholder that can be swapped for other metals that make more reactive complexes with interesting coordination geometry. A variety of ligand targets will be used to tune the properties of the complexes. Current targets include iminohydroxypyridines with R groups of different sizes attached to the imine group. The catalytic properties of the complexes will be tested using cyclic voltammetry. The complexes will be tested to see if they can catalyze CO2 reduction.