07/2014

The groups of Jamal Musaev and Sukbok Chang, Director of the Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalization at KAIST in South Korea, have collaborated to study some of the mechanistic details surrounding organometallic complexes formed with Group 9 metals, with a particular emphasis on the role played by the metal.

The reaction examined was the C–H amination of benzamides with organic azides, previously developed by the Chang group. A combination of experimental and theoretical studies were employed to identify some of the key trends that endow the different metals with such distinct reactivity profiles.

These studies inform not only why iridium and rhodium are so capable in comparison to cobalt, but also helped identify key intermediates in the mechanism and the rate-limiting steps in these catalytic systems.

This publication is the first to come out of the recently formed international network created between the CCHF, ITbM and KAIST-CCHF.