This International Collaboration in Chemistry award in the Division of Chemistry supports Professor David A. Vicic at the University of Hawaii to collaborate with Professor Yulia H. Budnikova of the Kazan Scientific Center at the Russian Academy of Sciences in performing electroanalysis on a series of palladium complexes in order to identify new Pd(III) complexes, and to systematically investigate their redox properties under aerobic conditions. These results will be applied to the discovery of new synthetic transformations using the higher oxidation states of palladium and will be extended to electrocatalytic C-H functionalization methods involving nickel. The research aims toward an understanding of the details of transformations that could enable new reactions with nickel, which would complement the existing chemistry of palladium.
Complementing the existing synthetic chemistry of palladium with corresponding reactions using nickel could lower the costs of catalysis and enable greener synthetic methods. The tabulation of redox potentials for a series of palladium complexes will help guide chemists in choosing an appropriate oxidant for high-valent transformations. New electrochemistry experiments derived from this research will be incorporated into laboratory courses in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry and Spectroelectrochemistry.
