Our Research

The Hevia group researches in the area of polar organometallic chemistry. Core tools of synthetic chemistry, polar organometallic reagents (typified by organolithium and Grignard reagents) are used worldwide for constructing compounds, especially aromatic compounds, which are ubiquitous in organic chemistry and thus in numerous commodities essential to everyday life. Our studies have lead to the design of polar mixed-metal reagents imbued with synergistic effects that display chemical properties and reactivity profiles far exceeding the limits of traditional single-metal reagents. These studies have improved existing, or established new fundamentally important, synthetic methodologies based on either stoichiometric or catalytic reactions. Bimetallic synergistic effects have been demonstrated in an impressive array of important bond forming reactions spanning bimetallic catalysis, deprotonative metallation, main group metal-mediated small molecule activation, Green chemistry, and salt-induced activation. This core research represents a major step towards a paradigm shift in the practice and future scope of polar organometallic chemistry.

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