Seeking MSCA-PF candidates - Electrifying the Synthesis of Organics and Chemical Building Blocks by Metallacyclic Strategies

To shift from fossil-based to sustainable resources in chemical production, the wiring of synthetic pathways with renewable electricity offers a promising alternative. In this context, our team is developing original approaches to deploy electrocatalysis in synthesis. In particular, we aim at functionalizing organic unsaturated backbones with abundant building blocks as H2O, CO(2) or NxOy, through metallacyclic strategies, barely known under electrochemical conditions.
Our expertise lies at the intersection between electrochemistry and -synthesis, organometallic chemistry, (in situ) spectroscopies and feeds a specific interest towards in-depth mechanistic understanding.
The postdoctoral research project will address electroreductive C-C couplings between carbon-heteroatom multiple bonds and small molecules (e.g. CO(2)) or synthons, by developing electrocatalysts based on transition-metal complexes.
Our group evolves in a multidisciplinary context at the interface of electrocatalysis, synthesis and organometallic chemistry and offers a dynamic, interactive working environment.

Skills and knowledge developed

·     Molecular synthesis (ligands, transition-metal complexes) and characterization methods

·     Electrochemistry of molecular compounds (voltammetry, electrolysis, spectroelectrochemistry).

·     Reactivity of organometallic compounds.

·     Formatting and presentation of results in team seminars and project report

Supervision: Dr. Nicolas Kaeffer

Contact: nkaeffer@unistra.fr

Contact team: Team MeCSE (Molecular ElectroCatalysis for Synthesis and Energy) within LIMA - UMR 7042

Offer webpage:

https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/hosting/electrifying-synthesis-organics-and-chemical-building-blocks-metallacyclic-strategies