Research at the European XFEL: Spectroscopy and coherent scattering research on new catalysts for C-H bonds of saturated alkanes

Research at the European XFEL: Spectroscopy and coherent scattering research on new catalysts for C-H bonds of saturated alkanesC-H bonds of saturated alkanes are inert and hence hard to break. Catalysis with 4d and 5d transition metal complexes in solution provides ways for C-H bond cleavage, whereas earth-abundant 3d metal catalysts have not been discovered to date. Raphael M. Jay from Uppsala University in Sweden and his team investigates how to make 3d metal complexes reactive for C-H activation. The Heisenberg Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (hRIXS) instrument at the Spectroscopy & Coherent Scattering instrument (SCS) with femtosecond resolution is ideally suited to reveal the electronic-structure factors that determine creation of reactive 3d metal centers for C-H activation. The aim is to identify bottlenecks in the t of a 3d transition metal complex to find what it is that prevents it from being reactive for C-H activation. The findings may devise strategies for how to make photochemical C-H activation and functionalization with 3d metal complexes more efficient and selective.