Event

Abstract

Olefin metathesis is a widely used synthetic method for the synthesis of chemicals employed in daily life, including plastics, household chemicals, agrochemicals, and high-grade fuels, including biofuels from renewable, sustainable feedstock. The current production of fine and commodity chemicals involving olefin metathesis exclusively relies on catalysts based on second- and third-row transition metals, such as Mo, Ru, W, and Re. The use of Earth-abundant first-row metal, such as V, will have a broad impact on society by providing less expensive and greener alternatives for existing methods. This, in turn, will make essential chemicals more accessible to consumers and decrease the human environmental footprint. Sustainability, low cost, and environmental preservation are essential but not the only driving force of our research. Thus, V-based catalysts can offer a unique reactivity compared to second-and third-row counterparts. In my talk, I will give an overview of our recent progress in developing V catalysts for olefin metathesis.

Bio

Dr. Konstantin Bukhryakov is a faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (2018-present) at Florida International University (FIU). He obtained his B.S. degree in 2006 from Tyumen State University, Russia. After graduation, he moved to Moscow, Russia, where he held a position Research Scientist at Chemical Diversity Research Institute (CDI, a subsidiary of ChemDiv, a contract research organization with headquarters in San Diego, CA); he worked on projects for Novartis, Merck, Abbott, Eli Lilly, and others developing synthetic strategies towards the clients’ target compounds, including synthesis of libraries of enantiopure organic compounds. Konstantin Bukhryakov joined the graduate program at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, in 2008. He worked on biologically active heterocyclic compounds and obtained his Ph.D. in 2012. Shortly after receiving a Ph.D. degree, he was invited to join the research group of Professor Valentin Rodionov at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia as a Postdoctoral Fellow. At KAUST, he developed new catalysts based on amphiphilic polymers, including organo- and metal complex catalysts. Konstantin Bukhryakov joined the research group of Professor Richard Schrock (Nobel Prize 2005) at MIT in 2015 as a Postdoctoral Associate. During his career at MIT, he developed a class of Mo complexes that have shown unprecedented activity for the cross-metathesis of electron-deficient olefins. Additionally, he established a synthetic route to Mo oxo alkylidene complexes, an elusive class of compounds for the last 35 years, proposed in classical olefin metathesis systems. He joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at FIU in 2018 as an Assistant Professor in Organic chemistry and Radiochemistry. His research focuses on first-row metal alkylidenes and their application in olefin metathesis.

Host: Prof. Mindiola