Semmelhack Symposium featuring John Hartwig

The selective introduction of functional groups at the positions of typically unreactive C-H and C-C bonds has been a longstanding challenge in catalysis. To this end, our group has developed practical methods for the catalytic functionalization of carbon–hydrogen bonds with main group reagents and the deconstruction of polyolefins by cleaving carbon–carbon bonds. The former set of studies have led us to a general strategy of installing a single transient functional group to form a range of products from one C-H bond functionalization reaction. This research has led us to seek next-generation catalysts for the functionalization of C-H in complex molecules, new classes of reactions for functionalization of these bonds, new strategies, such as the construction of artificial metalloenzymes to control the site at which such reactions occur,⁵ new ways for such enzymes and natural enzymes to work in concert to form unnatural products through artificial biosynthetic pathways. This work on C–H bond functionalization also has created new ways to deconstruct or change the properties of polyolefins by reactions initiated at C-H bonds by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst. The design and selection, as well as the intimate mechanism, of catalysts and catalytic reactions for such functionalization processes will be presented.