To avoid environmental pollution from some chemical processes, extensive research effort is focused on the development of energy-efficient, "green" catalytic methods to manufacture beneficial chemicals from petroleum and biomass. Transition metal catalyzed coupling of molecules with carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds to form new carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds are one such method. These reactions impact a broad spectrum of applications ranging from petrochemicals to pharmaceutical agents. Dr. Yi's research group is investigating the scope and mechanism of these reactions. Dr. Yi's group is applying these reactions to the syntheses of complex organic molecules, and extending the research to the syntheses of carbon-nitrogen (C-N) and carbon-oxygen (C-O) bonds. The research results impact economic and environmental issues important to commodity chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and crop protection chemicals. The Yi group is actively recruiting and training undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities in the Midwest region. In a collaborative effort with the NSF-STEM program, the Yi group is hosting undergraduate interns from a local college (Milwaukee Area Technical College) during the summer.
Professor Yi is investigating the scope and mechanism of new catalytic sp3 C-H coupling methods of saturated hydrocarbons and their applications for the synthesis of complex organic molecules. The central theme of this project is the development of green catalytic coupling methods of C-H bonds that give desired products without forming toxic and wasteful byproducts. The project is also developing novel catalytic coupling methods via C-C and C-X (X = N, O) bond activation for biomass-relevant substrates. Catalytic C-C and C-X bond activation methods are of fundamental importance with enormous synthetic and economic potential in realizing cost-effective and environmentally benign syntheses of petroleum and biomass feedstocks. The proposed project is aiming to develop expedient syntheses of both bio-based materials and pharmaceutical agents, which can bear significant economic and environmental benefits to society in terms of designing next generation of energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable catalytic processes. Professor Yi's research is also providing education and training in organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis for graduate and postgraduate workers in his group. In a collaborative effort through a NSF-STEM program, the PI's group is hosting undergraduate interns from a local college (Milwaukee Area Technical College) during the summer.
