Seminar: Guest researcher Laurent Plasseraud

Dr. Laurent Plasseraud will be visiting our group on the 26th-27th November 2021. at this occasion, we have planned a small seminar together with activities.

Schedule:

Grant: Novo Nordisk Foundation Research Center

Pr. Kathrin Hopmann and Annette Bayer have taken the CHOCO group to new horizons, and we will now participate in the Novo Nordisk Foundation Research Center along six other institutions. The centre, based at Aarhus University, is focused on developing technologies for the capture, storage and recycling of CO₂. The grant amount is about 850 million NOK (84.7 miliion €).

See the news article from UiT about this (norwegian)

Award: Best 5-minutes presentation

PhD student Jhonnatan Carvahlo, funded by the CO2PERATE ITN, had the best 5-minutes presentation at the Hylleraas annual meeting last week. Congratulations!

Accepted Manuscript: Guanidine–CO₂ Adducts in Carbamate Formation

A nice collaboration between UiT and Helsinki University  on the mechanism of carbamate formation from CO₂ and amines. Congratulations to Ljiljana and Kathrin!

Abstract:
Capture of CO₂ by amines is an attractive synthetic strategy for the formation of carbamates. Such reactions can be mediated by superbases, such as 1,1,3,3,-tetramethylguanidine (TMG), with previous implications that zwitterionic superbase–CO₂ adducts are able to actively transfer the carboxylate group to various substrates. Here we report a detailed investigation of zwitterionic TMG–CO₂, including isolation, NMR behavior, reactivity, and mechanistic consequences in carboxylation of aniline-derivatives. Our computational and experimental mechanistic analysis shows that the reversible TMG–CO₂ zwitterion is not a direct carboxylation agent. Instead, CO₂ dissociates from TMG–CO₂ before concerted low energy carboxylation occurs, where the role of the TMG is to deprotonate the amine as it is attacking a free CO₂. This insight is significant, as it opens a rational way to design new synthesis strategies. As shown here, nucleophiles otherwise inert towards CO₂ can be carboxylated, even without a CO₂ atmosphere, using TMG–CO₂ as a stoichiometric source of CO₂. We also show natural abundance 15N NMR is sensitive for zwitterion formation, complementing variable-temperature NMR studies.

Read at:

For a list of publications by members of the CHOCO group, see our Publications page 🙂

Accepted Manuscript: Lipids as solvents

Congratulations to Ashot, Kathrin and Annette for their newly accepted manuscript, titled “Lipids as versatile solvents for chemical synthesis”.

Abstract:
Development of safe, renewable, cheap and versatile solvents is a longstanding challenge in chemistry. We show here that vegetable oils and related systems can become prominent solvents for organic synthesis. Suzuki-Miyaura, Hiyama, Stille, Sonogashira and Heck cross-couplings proceed with quantitative yields in a range of vegetable oils, fish oil, butter and waxes used as solvents. Appropriate methodologies for high-throughput screening and sustainable isolation techniques applicable for vegetable oils and related lipids are presented.

Read at: For a list of publications by members of the CHOCO group, see our Publications page 🙂

Post-doc Position in Computational Chemistry: CO₂ activation

Are you our new colleague?

We are pleased to announce the opening of a 2-year postdoc position within the CHOCO group on the topic of “New Reactions for CO₂ Activation”. We are looking to fill the position as soon as possible, so prepare to pack your bags and start your arctic adventure in the beautiful city of Tromsø!

Field of Research:
The Postdoctoral Research Fellow  will use quantum chemical methods (standard density functional theory and ab initio molecular dynamics) to model molecules and reactions and to propose promising new molecules for activation of CO₂, especially towards enantioselective carbon-carbon bond formation. The work will be performed in close collaboration with experimental organic chemists.

The candidate can expect to be involved in the supervision of Master and PhD students in the group in an amount equivalent to maximum 10 % of a full-time employment.

For more details and application see: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/204851/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-computational-chemistry-new-reactions-for-activation-of-co2

NordCO₂ Monthly seminar series: May 2021

This month’s occurrence of the NordCO₂ Monthly Seminars series is organised by the University of Oslo and hosted by the NordCO₂ leader Assoc. Prof. Ainara Nova. The event includes a lecture by Dr. Aleix Comas-Vives from the University of Barcelona, titled “Theory-Aided Comprehension of CO₂ Conversion on Heterogeneous Catalysts”, as well as a talk by NordCO₂ PhD student Ebrahim Tayyebi from the Univesity of Iceland.

For more details as well as registration, see the Activities page on the NordCO₂ website.

Post-doc Position in Organic Chemistry: CO₂ conversion

Are you our new colleague?

We are pleased to announce the opening of a 2-year postdoc position within the CHOCO group on the topic of “New Methods for Selective CO₂ Conversion”. We are looking to fill the position as soon as possible, so prepare to pack your bags and start your arctic adventure in the beautiful city of Tromsø!

Field of Research:
The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will employ experimental organic chemistry methods to investigate organic and organometallic molecules that can bind and activate CO₂. The project goal will be to design enantioselective carboxylation reactions and to obtain an in-depth mechanistic understanding of these. The work will be performed in collaboration with computational chemists in the team.

For more details and application see: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/204449/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-organic-chemistry-new-methods-for-selective-co2-conversion

CO₂PERATE Annual  Report

CHOCO PI Hopmann is Coordinator of the Innovative Training Network CO₂PERATE, which just has released its first annual report. Read about our vision and our fantastic PhD students here

Postdoc Position in Organic Chemistry

We are proud to announce that CHOCO researcher Ashot Gevorgyan is starting his own research group at UiT!! We will keep collaborating, but Ashot will also start his own research program on sustainable chemistry.  And he is hiring!

Currently, Ashot is looking for a postdoc in Organic Chemistry and Homogeneous Catalysis. The position is for 2 years, with the possibility of a 1-year extension.

Field of Research:
“The work will focus on the design of new renewable ligands and catalysts. The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be responsible for preparation of new phosphine and carbene ligands as well as for transition metal complexes based on these ligands. The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will evaluate the activity of prepared ligands and complexes on several transition metal-catalyzed transformations of industrial importance.”

For more details and application see: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/202610/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-organic-chemistry-and-homogeneous-catalysis