This page presents the current and upcoming activities organised by the consortium. For past events, check our Previous Activities page.
Annual Meeting 2023
24th-27th April 2023, Saariselkä 🇫🇮
Helsinki University is welcoming us for our last Annual Meeting. The meeting will take place at Santa’s Hotel Tunturi in Saariselkä, Finland.
Preliminary Programme:

Practical Information:
Arrival/Departure: the programme allows for the attendees to take the flights below to and from the Ivalo airport.

Scientific sessions: the sessions will cover the research themes of the NordCO2 consortium presented below. The time allocated for each presenttion is 30 minutes in cluding time for discussion. The programme will be updated when the sessions are scheduled.
- CO2 to Chemicals
- CO2 to Fuels
- Incorporation of catalysts into solid suports
Outdoor Activities / Free time: Saariselkä offers a range of outdoor activities, including downhill skiing. For organising/participating to outdoor activities, please contact our local contacts at Helsinki University, Joe and Jussi. Outdoor activities will not be covered by NordCO2.
For those who wish to stay inside during “afternoon free time”, the meeting room will be accessible on Tuesday (25th) but not on Wednesday (due to a meeting of the NordCO2 Steering Committee). All double rooms have been booked with saunas (but not the single rooms).
Cocktail Poster Session: as per our tradition, we will have an evening poster session, this time with a standing dinner. You are free to dress up as nice as you wish..or not!
NordCO2 Quiz: for the very first time, we invite to participate to a quiz about all things NordCO2.
Monthly Seminars
The NordCO2 Monthly Seminars is a series of lectures by experts in the fields relevant to the NordCO2 consortium as well as student talks about their recently published works. The seminars are organised each month by a different institution from the NordCO2 consortium, and the lectures are often accessible to the public. The seminars are held in Zoom, and registration links are in the description of each event.
January 2023: UiT the Arctic University of Norway 🇳🇴
31st January 2023, 14:00-16:00 CETZoom meeting – Register here!
The seminar will consist of two talks, by Dr. Ashot Gevorgyan from the Department of Chemistry at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and by Dr. Brian V. Popp from the Department of Chemistry at West Virginia University, WV, USA.

Title of the lecture:
“CO2 fixation in the arctic”
Abstract:
CO2 is the most sustainable carbon source. The main obstacle limiting the widespread use of CO2 in the synthesis of chemicals is its pronounced inertness. Our research is primarily focused on the development of new methodologies for the C-C bond forming reactions involving CO2 (see figure below).1-5 For instance, we could demonstrate that for the hydrocarboxylation of certain olefins the use of expansive ligands and catalysts is not necessary.1,2 On top of that, for the first time we have shown that CO2 capture and utilization can be performed in renewable solvents.3 In another study we have developed a selective methodology for the C-H carboxylation of unactivated arenes with CO2.4 The methodologies developed by us can be applied for the production of pharmaceuticals and for the late-stage functionalization of value-added products. In my talk, I will summarize these findings and will present our perspectives on the development of this field of research.

- A. Gevorgyan, M. F. Obst, Y. Guttormsen, F. Maseras, K. H. Hopmann, A. Bayer, Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 10072-10078.
- M. F. Obst, A. Gevorgyan, A. Bayer, K. H. Hopmann, Organometallics 2020, 39, 1545-1552.
- A. Gevorgyan, K. H. Hopmann, A. Bayer, ChemSusChem 2020, 13, 2080-2088.
- A. Gevorgyan, K. H. Hopmann, A. Bayer, Chem. Eur. J. 2020, 26, 6064-6069.
- L. Pavlovic, M. Pettersen, A. Gevorgyan, J. Vaitla, A. Bayer, K. H. Hopmann, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2021, 663-670.

Title of the lecture:
“Difunctionalization of alkenes with boron and CO2“
Abstract:
The hetero(element)carboxylation of unsaturated organic substrates is useful due to the installation of a carboxylic acid, using the C1 feedstock CO2, as well as a synthetically versatile hetero(element)-carbon bond. In 2016, we reported the first method to achieve 1,2-borylative-carboxylation (boracarboxylation) of an alkene (vinyl arene).1 The mild method uses redox-neutral NHC-copper(I) catalysis and a single atmosphere of CO2 to obtain boron-functionalized α-aryl carboxylic acids, including novel functionalized-NSAIDs such as bora-ibuprofen and bora-naproxen. The products can be further elaborated through a variety of reactions at the C–B bond. In recent years, understanding CO2 pressure effects and use of secondary additives, such as mono- and bis-phosphine ligands, have led to the marked broadening of the substrate scope.2,3 Mechanistic insights from well-defined, isolable copper complexes and complimentary computational studies have revealed important details about the operative reaction pathways.4,5

- Butcher, T. W.; McClain, E. J.; Hamilton, T. G.; Perrone, T. M.; Kroner, K. M.; Donohoe, G. C.; Akhmedov, N. G.; Petersen, J. L.; Popp, B. V. Org. Lett. 2016, 18, 6428-6431.
- Perrone, T. M.; Gregory, A. S.; Knowlden, S. W.; Ziemer, N. R.; Alsulami, R. N.; Petersen, J. L.; Popp, B. V. ChemCatChem 2019, 11, 5814-5820.
- Knowlden, S. W.; Popp, B. V. Organometallics 2022, 41, 1883-1891.
- Baughman, N. N; Akhmedov, N. G.; Petersen, J. L.; Popp, B. V. Organometallics 2021, 40, 23-37.
- Baughman, N. N; Popp, B. V. Comment Inorg. Chem. 2020, 40, 159-175.