Project Grant 2154698

This $600,000 National Science Foundation project grant supports collaborative research on electrochemical nickel-catalyzed reductive biaryl coupling between researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Colorado State University. The team will use analytical, computational, and electroanalytical tools to study the mechanistic details of these reactions and identify factors that enable lower-cost, more sustainable synthesis of chemicals useful in polymers and agriculture via electricity rather than metal reductants. Insights gained will guide efforts to improve catalyst turnover number, frequency, and selectivity to facilitate commercial-scale electrochemical reductive biaryl synthesis in flow reactors. In addition to advancing understanding of nickel catalysis and electrosynthesis, the research is expected to deliver greener alternatives to state-of-the-art biaryl syntheses utilizing less selective oxidation and precious metal catalysts. Awarded on May 1, 2022 under the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program, this collaboration aims to make progress in these scientific fields over its three-year period of performance ending April 30, 2025.