Reductive Electrosynthesis - a Radical Approach

In the contemporary light of climate change and major societal dependence on fossil feedstocks, scientific progress is needed more than ever.

With innovations in organic synthesis, sustainable production of e.g. pharmaceuticals and materials is realized in processes that minimize energy consumption, waste formation and chemical hazards and enable the use of alternative feedstocks.

The purpose of the outlined research is to develop unprecedented methods for electroreductive formation and subsequent cross-coupling of carbon-centered radicals through cleavage of C-O, C-S and C-F bonds.

The proposal relies on a synergistic use of electrochemistry, Lewis acid catalysis and integrated physical-organic studies and rests on successful preliminary results.

The targeted transformations are virtually unexplored, and the research will expand the reactivity space of thioethers, alcohols and alkylfluorides by provision of new retrosynthetic disconnections of relevance for late-stage (de)functionalization of complex organic molecules.

The research presents new radical pathways to chemical synthesis that expand the organic toolbox and provides mechanistic insights through fundamental studies of reactivity and selectivity, with implications beyond the targeted transformations.

The work will be carried out at the Department of Chemistry, KTH, and granted funding will fully cover the costs for one PhD student during four years.