Investigating the synthetic applications of catenated nitrogen radicals

Carbon is famous for its ability to bond to itself and form chains and complex molecules. Whereas its neighbour nitrogen suffers from electronic repulsion which subsequently discourages catenation.

Despite their highly reactive nature, studying nitrogen chains and their corresponding ions and radials is of great academic interest as these species have been observed under extreme conditions: such as the Earth's ionosphere which protects us from the Sun's powerful radiation. Further nitrogen-centred radicals based on these chains offer new reagents to build otherwise difficult C-N bonds.

Nitrogen-containing molecules are of particular interest within medicinal chemistry, where the strategic inclusion of a nitrogen atom can impart dramatic improvements in the bioactivity of compounds.

Additionally, in recent years there has been significant interest in radical ligands, and their ability to potentially modulate the physical properties of the metal they are bound to, particularly conductivity and magnetism.

Radical ligands have also been shown to ameliorate the chemical activity of transition metal catalysts through ligand-based redox reactions. In this project, I target the synthesis of nitrogen chain radials and find applications for them in synthetic science.

The key objectives that will be delivered during this project include i) synthesis and full characterisation of stable nitrogen radical chains; ii) use of these nitrogen radicals to build highly important C-N bonds; iii) transfer of these nitrogen radicals to transition metals to make complexes with new physical properties; iv) study the photochemistry of the nitrogen radical chains.

Overall, these novel catenated nitrogen chains present an exciting opportunity in both organic and inorganic chemistry.

This project offers training in synthetic science, advanced spectroscopy, computational chemistry, and X-ray crystallography. This project falls within the EPSRC research areas 'physical sciences' and 'manufacturing the future'.