Research
The Organometallic Catalysis Group works on the synthesis and characterisation of transition metal complexes and their application in catalysis and medicine.
Synthesis and Catalysis-Our efforts are focused on the development of sustainable catalytic methods for transforming readily accessible substances into target-relevant products. We work mainly with Earth-abundant 3d metals (Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu) as catalysts for the functionalization of organic molecules.
Ongoing projects:
- Replacing precious metal complexes that are typically used as catalysts for reduction reactions (hydrogenation, transfer hydrogenation, and hydrosilylation) with Earth-abundant metals such as iron, manganese, and nickel and using N-heterocyclic carbenes as ligands.
- Converting CO2 into usable energy using cheap catalyst and readilyl accesible ligands
- Synthesis of biologically relevant N-heterocycles through metal-catalysed borrowing hydrogen methods.
Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry- We work on the development of metal complexes for their application as:
- Anticancer drugs- the goal is the development of anticancer metallodrugs that can overcome some of the drawbacks associated with the use of platinum drugs.
- Antimicrobial agents- we develop new metal-based molecules as viable and useful anti-bacterial and antifungal agents.
- Chemosensors- we develop metal complexes as chemosensors for the detection of important biological and environmental anions and cations.
- Marine natural products-we work on the purification of marine extracts and the screening of these substances against a number of therapeutic targets, such as anticancer, antibacterial and antifungal (in collaboration with biologists), and in the characterisation of the chemically active entities.
