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What Cross-Coupling & C-H Functionalization got wrong, from 50 theses

Summary written by a model from the records below: Cross-coupling and C-H functionalization methods encounter frequent setbacks stemming from steric hindrance, functional group intolerance, and competing side reactions like homocoupling. In many cases, these challenges lead to poor yields and selectivity, prompting researchers to optimize catalysts or replace the coupling strategy altogether. These records come from graduate theses, 2021 to 2025, each labeled with its degree where the repository states it, and each links to its thesis. They were extracted by language models reading the full text, so treat each as a lead to read, not a verdict.

50
theses
18
institutions
56
failure records
7
failure modes

Plus 9 problems the authors left open, listed at the end.

Failure modes, by theses reporting them

Select a mode to jump to its records.

Functional group incompatibility and catalyst poisoning cause substrate decomposition or stalled reactions
11
11 theses · 6 institutions · 11 records
Suboptimal choice of ligands, precatalysts, bases, or additives leads to diminished coupling yields
9
9 theses · 9 institutions · 9 records
Planned cross-coupling pathways are abandoned for alternative synthetic strategies due to poor performance
7
7 theses · 6 institutions · 8 records
Steric congestion prevents coupling or limits bifunctional substrates to mono-substitution
8
8 theses · 7 institutions · 9 records
Competing homocoupling and unintended side reactions outpace cross-coupling
7
7 theses · 5 institutions · 8 records
Flawed synthetic sequencing and over-coupling complicate multi-step transformations
7
7 theses · 6 institutions · 7 records
Poor regio- or stereochemical control produces isomeric mixtures and coupling defects
4
4 theses · 4 institutions · 4 records

Functional group incompatibility and catalyst poisoning cause substrate decomposition or stalled reactions

11 theses · 6 institutions

Substrates bearing fragile bonds or sensitive moieties suffer decomposition such as protodeboronation, detriflation, or catalyst insertion into weak nitrogen-oxygen linkages. Dense coordination from heteroatoms in complex molecules poisons catalytic cycles, while electronically deactivated or base-sensitive partners fail to undergo productive cross-coupling.

Tried and failed

transition metal catalyzed transfer hydrogenative coupling applied to unactivated aliphatic alcohols. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: conditions optimized for activated benzylic systems gave poor reactivity on less activated aliphatic substrates

Unlocking diverse utility for [pi]-unsaturated feedstocks : development of metal-catalyzed transfer hydrogenative methods and concise total syntheses of octalactins A and B · UT Austin · PhD

Tried and failed

photoredox-catalyzed cross-coupling with aryl boronic acids applied to redox-active esters. Reason: failed to yield the desired cross-coupled arylation products

Investigation of oxetane reactive intermediates for the synthesis of 3,3-disubstituted oxetanes · Imperial · PhD

Tried and failed

transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl bromides applied to triflated tyrosine derivatives. Reason: reaction failed to yield the desired biaryl coupling precursor

Towards The Development Of Intrinsically Fluorescent Unnatural Amino Acids For In Vivo Incorporation Into Proteins · Penn · PhD

Tried and failed

reductive cross-coupling with unprotected boronic acids applied to heteroarylboronic acid cross-coupling. Outcome: unstable. Reason: unprotected substrate underwent protodeboronation under reductive reaction conditions, degrading coupling efficiency

Organophosphorus-Catalyzed Reductive Functionalization of Nitrocompounds via P(III)/P(V) Redox Couple · MIT · PhD

Tried and failed

Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling applied to heteroaromatic halides with electron-deficient or phenolic boronic esters. Reason: Phenol boronic esters caused decomposition via phenoxy anions, while bis-trifluoromethylated boronic esters were too electron-poor to react.

EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF XYLOPYRINDE FLUORESCENT TOOLS FOR SPATIOTEMPORAL IMAGING · Penn · PhD

Tried and failed

slow reagent addition with mild base applied to base-sensitive heteroaryl cross-coupling substrates. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: electrophilic methyl esters and 3-H isoxazoles still underwent base-induced decomposition

Development of Deactivation-Resistant Catalysts for Pd-Catalyzed C–N Cross-Coupling Reactions · MIT · PhD

Tried and failed

photoredox decarboxylative coupling with diverse nucleophiles applied to cyclopropenyl ester functionalization. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: weak, heteroatomic, or electronically unactivated nucleophiles failed to couple with generated carbocation intermediates

Development of synthetic methods starting from cyclopropenes: taming cyclopropyl radical, cyclopropyl and cyclopropenium cations · EPFL · PhD

Tried and failed

catalytic cross-coupling using standard precatalyst systems applied to complex pharmaceutical core diversification. Reason: catalytic cycle stalled or poisoned by dense heteroatom coordination and functional groups in complex drugs

Design of New, More Stable, Precursors to Organopalladium(II) Complexes and Methods for the Palladium-Mediated Late-Stage Diversification of Pharmaceuticals · MIT · PhD

Tried and failed

Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling applied to substrates containing N-O bonds. Reason: Palladium catalyst inserted into the weak N-O bond rather than the aryl-halide bond

Chain Scissionable Resists Based on Poly(acetal) Motif for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography · Cornell · PhD

Tried and failed

Buchwald-Hartwig amination with aniline applied to brominated aryl triflate substrates. Reason: Starting material was recovered or underwent detriflation instead of cross-coupling under palladium catalysis

Total syntheses of (±)-melicolones A and B, design, synthesis and evaluation of novel carbazole based photocages · UT Austin · PhD

Tried and failed

visible-light photoredox and copper dual catalysis applied to intermolecular oxidative alkene amination. Outcome: no signal. Reason: Standard photoredox catalysts and copper triflate failed to promote radical generation or coupling

Copper-catalyzed transformations of carboradicals generated by electrochemical and photochemical methods: oxidative amination and polyfluoroarylation · EPFL · PhD

Suboptimal choice of ligands, precatalysts, bases, or additives leads to diminished coupling yields

9 theses · 9 institutions

Catalytic efficiency drops substantially when using older precatalyst generations, unoptimized phosphine ligands, or less reactive organoboron partners. Similarly, choosing unsuitable bases, alternative oxidants, or inhibitory additives impairs active catalytic intermediates and lowers cross-coupling yields compared to optimized baselines.

Lost to a baseline

In the optimization of the C-O coupling of 4-methoxyphenol with 2-chloro-3-methylpyridine to form 3-4c, using NaOtBu instead of BTPP/NaTFA afforded only 37% yield compared to 92% with the dual-base system.

Ligand-enabled advances in Ni-catalyzed cross-coupling · Dalhousie · PhD

Lost to a baseline

Alternative chemical oxidants (TBHP, ammonium persulfate, iodosobenzene, H2O2) produced lower yields than molecular oxygen for vanadium-catalyzed phenol coupling.

Selective Oxidative Methods For Dehydrogenative Coupling And Hydrogen Peroxide Generation · Penn · PhD

Lost to a baseline

For model coupling at room temperature, [Pd(cinnamyl)Cl]2/L6 gave lower yield (47%) than OA6 (90%) for ortho-substituted bromoarenes with primary amines.

Development of Deactivation-Resistant Catalysts for Pd-Catalyzed C–N Cross-Coupling Reactions · MIT · PhD

Lost to a baseline

Buchwald biaryl phosphine ligands (t-BuXPhos, BippyPhos, etc.) provided only ~5% yield in sulfinamide coupling compared to 35% with P(t-Bu)2Me*HBF4.

Palladium-catalysed desulfinative cross-coupling reactions: Leveraging mechanistic insights for reaction optimisation · Oxford · PhD

Lost to a baseline

4CzIPN showed lower yield in NHC/photoredox dual-catalyzed cross-coupling of alkyl trifluoroborates and acid fluorides compared to Ir catalyst.

Integration of Hypervalent Iodine Reagents and Carbazolyl Cyanobenzenes-Based Dyes into Peptides: New Opportunities for Biomolecule Functionalization · EPFL · PhD

Lost to a baseline

SPhos with K3PO4/[(MeCN)2PdCl2] achieves 90% yield in Suzuki-Miyaura coupling vs 16% under the thesis's NaOMe/toluene conditions.

Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Phosphazenyl Phosphines Synthese, Charakterisierung und Anwendung von Phosphazenylphosphinen · University of Marburg · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected NH4OH as general base over NEt3 for Suzuki couplings due to strong substrate dependency and complete failure on certain substrates (2e, 2h, 3a, 3d)

Transition-metal compounds of (poly)-azoles Transition-metal compounds of (poly)azoles Übergangsmetallverbindungen mit (Poly)Azolen · TU Wien · PhD

Tried and failed

adding phosphine ligands or radical initiators applied to copper-mediated Ullmann-type cross-coupling. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: additives inhibited the formation of the active organocopper intermediate

Towards the synthesis of multinuclear, branched and cyclic metallocene-containing complexes · Imperial · PhD

Tried and failed

lower-generation Buchwald-Hartwig precatalysts applied to cross-coupling polymerization of microporous polymers. Outcome: too slow. Reason: catalysts exhibited lower efficiency and excessive reaction times compared to fourth-generation variants

Polymer Membranes for the Separation of Complex Natural Hydrocarbon Feeds · Georgia Tech · PhD

Planned cross-coupling pathways are abandoned for alternative synthetic strategies due to poor performance

7 theses · 6 institutions

Synthetic routes relying on cross-coupling were abandoned when precursor synthesis proved difficult or protecting groups could not be selectively removed. Investigators pivoted to nucleophilic aromatic substitution, direct arylation, or classical organometallic additions to avoid low yields, messy cyclizations, and organotin toxicity.

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected NHTK (Nozaki-Hiyama-Takai-Kishi) reaction for C6-C7 coupling due to low/moderate yields on complex substrates.

Neue Entwicklungen in der Organobor-Chemie: mono-Zweifel-Olefinierung, Spartein-freie Chemie der Lithiierung/Borylierung und die Totalsynthese von Chondrochloren A · Leibniz Universität Hannover · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Alternative C-C coupling routes utilizing 4,7-dibromobenzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole or benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole-4,7-diyldiboronic acid with mono-arylated naphthalene partners were rejected due to lower precursor preparation yields and lack of synthetic divergence.

Multi-layer 3D chirality: Design, synthesis and applications · Texas Tech · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Reductive Ni-catalyzed cross-coupling for cyanotryptophans was abandoned in favor of the Negishi coupling route due to poor reliability.

Further Exploring the Structure Activity Relationship (SAR) of MMV008138 and MMV1803522 · Virginia Tech · Doctorate

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Direct coupling of 2,3-diamino-1,4-phenylene diboronic acid or N,N-diacetyl derivatives with 1,8-dibromonaphthalene was rejected due to repeated failures, pivoting to benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyldiboronic acid.

Multi-layer 3D chirality: Design, synthesis and applications · Texas Tech · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Stille cross-coupling for P(E-NDI-T) rejected after monomer bromination failed, switching to direct arylation polymerization (DAP)

Design and Synthesis of Molecularly Encapsulated Conjugated Materials for Organic Electronics. · Cambridge · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Buchwald-Hartwig coupling for pyrimidine bioisostere 80 was rejected in favor of acid-catalyzed SNAr

Targeting the Ras superfamily via their regulatory GEF complexes · Oxford · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected Cadogen, Täuber, and Ullmann/Buchwald-Hartwig coupling routes to 2,7-diazacarbazole due to low yields and messy cyclizations.

Guanidinium Compounds: Synthesis, Oxoanion Binding, and Cellular Delivery · MIT · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected transition-metal-mediated cross-coupling polymerizations (Stille, Suzuki-Miyaura, Kumada) due to the requirement of electron-rich co-monomers, toxicity of organostannanes, and tedious palladium catalyst purification.

Synthesis of lactone-based conjugated polymers for recently emerging n-type organic thermoelectrics and electrochemical transistors · Oxford · PhD

Steric congestion prevents coupling or limits bifunctional substrates to mono-substitution

8 theses · 7 institutions

Severe steric hindrance around crowded aromatic or aliphatic reaction centers impedes oxidative addition, transmetallation, and radical generation. In bifunctional aromatic substrates, steric congestion halts cross-coupling after a single substitution, precluding disubstitution or preventing polymer chain growth.

Tried and failed

cross-coupling via isolated oxidative addition complexes applied to late-stage amination of sterically hindered amines. Outcome: no signal. Reason: steric hindrance of the secondary amine prevented transmetallation or reductive elimination

Design of New, More Stable, Precursors to Organopalladium(II) Complexes and Methods for the Palladium-Mediated Late-Stage Diversification of Pharmaceuticals · MIT · PhD

Tried and failed

copper-mediated cross-coupling for disubstitution applied to ortho-carborane core functionalisation. Reason: Steric hindrance prevented second substitution, yielding only mono-substituted product

Carborane-containing materials and dopants for organic electronics · Imperial · PhD

Tried and failed

metallaphotoredox cross-electrophile coupling applied to hindered alpha-haloalkylboronates with alkyl bromides. Reason: sterically hindered secondary and tertiary radical precursors failed to couple efficiently under standard photoredox conditions

Developing Electroreductive Methodologies via a Radical-Polar Crossover Pathway · Cornell · PhD

Tried and failed

thermal condensation of diacids with boronic acids applied to ortho-disubstituted arylboronic acids. Reason: severe steric hindrance prevented coupling under thermal or microwave heating

Exploring novel strategies for C-H functionalisation of aryl boronates and asymmetric synthesis of functionalised azetidines · Imperial · PhD

Tried and failed

reductant-mediated thermal nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling applied to hindered secondary alcohol etherification. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: steric hindrance of bulky secondary alcohols prevented productive coupling under thermal conditions

Mechanisms and Methods in Redox and Redox-Mediated Reactions Involving Open-Shell Intermediates · Harvard · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected cross-coupling methods (e.g. Suzuki coupling) for the synthesis of substituted BINOL libraries due to steric hindrance.

New cation-mediated enantioselective transformations and catalytic enantioselective photocyclization · Oxford · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected Ullmann-type coupling for synthesizing 1,2-di(thiophen-2-yl)-o-carborane after confirming steric limitations prevented di-substitution, switching to a Kumada-type Ni(II)-catalysed cross-coupling

Carborane-containing materials and dopants for organic electronics · Imperial · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected continuing with Troc-protected aniline 1e coupling due to severe steric hindrance preventing azo coupling.

A Green Light at the Intersection of Metal-Organic Frameworks and Drug Delivery · Virginia Tech · Doctorate

Tried and failed

BrettPhos-mediated Buchwald-Hartwig amination polymerization applied to polyarylamine synthesis from diamines and dibromides. Reason: selective monoarylation prevented secondary amine coupling needed for high degree of polymerization

MICROPOROUS SPIROCYCLIC POLYMERS FOR MEMBRANE SEPARATIONS OF CRUDE OIL MIXTURES · Georgia Tech · PhD

Competing homocoupling and unintended side reactions outpace cross-coupling

7 theses · 5 institutions

Organometallic precursors and radical intermediates frequently undergo self-coupling, dimerization, or decarboxylation rather than productive cross-coupling. In addition, basic or nucleophilic coupling partners participate in rapid intramolecular cyclization or conjugate addition pathways that suppress intermolecular coupling.

Tried and failed

Pd-catalyzed Stille cross-coupling applied to heteroaryl ester cross-coupling with dibromoaryls. Reason: dominant homocoupling of the heteroaryl stannane precursor led to low product yields

Dancing with Light: Discrete Pi-Conjugated Chromophores for Solar Fuel Cell and Electrochromic Applications · Georgia Tech · PhD

Tried and failed

olefin cross-metathesis with Hoveyda-Grubbs second-generation catalyst applied to coupling complex sterically hindered terminal olefins. Reason: yielded exclusive homodimerization of one coupling partner instead of productive cross-coupling

Total synthesis of the acetyl CoA carboxylase allosteric inhibitor soraphen A and the development of new catalytic methods using palladium, iridium and rhodium · UT Austin · PhD

Lost to a baseline

Decarboxylative cross-coupling of dipeptide 96 with peptide-EBX 93b gave low yield of 97b due to competing decarboxylation of 96.

Integration of Hypervalent Iodine Reagents and Carbazolyl Cyanobenzenes-Based Dyes into Peptides: New Opportunities for Biomolecule Functionalization · EPFL · PhD

Lost to a baseline

Cobalt-mediated reductive homocoupling of 2.15 and 2.16 gave only 26% yield of heterodimer 2.17 (statistical mixture), whereas diazene photolysis gave 66% selective coupling.

Total Synthesis of Verticillin A and Application of Diazene-Directed Fragment Assembly to the Synthesis of Heterodimeric Epidithiodiketopiperazine Derivatives · MIT · PhD

Tried and failed

three-component copper-catalyzed multicomponent carboamination applied to electron-deficient alkenes with alpha-halo carbonyls. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: side reactions dominated, yielding primarily Ullmann coupling or polymerization products

Development of transition metal-catalyzed olefin difunctionalizations · UT Austin · PhD

Tried and failed

Copper-catalyzed radical alkene carboamination applied to electron-deficient alkenes with aliphatic amines. Reason: Basic alkyl amines predominantly underwent competitive aza-Michael addition and Ullmann coupling side reactions

Development of transition metal-catalyzed olefin difunctionalizations · UT Austin · PhD

Tried and failed

intermolecular copper-catalysed cross-coupling applied to ortho-halo substituted amides. Reason: intramolecular cyclisation competed and completely outpaced the desired intermolecular amination

Exploring copper-catalysed Ullmann cross coupling reactions · Imperial · Doctorate

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected asymmetric ethyl N-diphenylmethylene glycine as a cross-coupling substrate because it predominantly underwent Cu-catalysed homocoupling instead

Catalytic and mechanistic studies towards understanding copper-catalysed C-C cross-coupling · Imperial · PhD

Flawed synthetic sequencing and over-coupling complicate multi-step transformations

7 theses · 6 institutions

Polyfunctional and alkynyl substrates often suffer from over-coupling that produces inseparable mixtures, or fail to achieve complete multiple cross-couplings. Coupling at inappropriate stages in a synthetic sequence causes side reactions on sensitive bonds, requiring reordering of steps or isolation of discrete intermediates.

Tried and failed

Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of halothiophenes with alcohol substituents applied to (2-bromothiophen-3-yl)methanol. Reason: Direct coupling gave less than 2% conversion across catalysts and bases, requiring an aldehyde intermediate

Thiocarbonyl Platform for Degradable Radical Polymers · Georgia Tech · PhD

Tried and failed

double Suzuki cross-coupling on fused aromatic precursors applied to asymmetric fused-ring heteroaromatic core synthesis. Reason: failed to yield desired coupled product or gave only trace amounts

Synthesis of novel indacenodithiophene derivatives and their application in organic solar cells · Imperial · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected synthesis route using bis-acetylene BINOL 27(S) due to over-coupling and inseparable chromatographic mixtures; adopted diiodo-BINOL 26(S) with ethynyl-functionalized partners instead.

Synthesis of Chiral Donor-Acceptor Dyes to Study Charge Transfer Dynamics in a Chiral Environment · Tübingen · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Late-stage synthesis of benzothiophene amide [147] was abandoned in favor of performing aminolysis prior to Sonogashira cross-coupling due to poor yields and side reactions on the alkyne bond.

Synthesis of novel scaffolds as selective ligands for the alpha-beta interface of the GABA-A receptor Synthese neuer Strukturen als selektive Liganden für das alpha-beta Interface des GABA-A Rezeptor · TU Wien · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected reversal Suzuki coupling using Bpin-substituted dialdehydes because overall yields did not improve enough over tetrayne boronic ester route.

Preparation, Properties, and Future Directions of Novel Zig-zag Edged Nanographenes · University of Nevada, Reno · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected one-pot Suzuki-Miyaura borylation followed by Suzuki coupling for the FFAR1 tracer (16% yield) in favor of Suzuki coupling using commercial boronic acid (84% yield).

Synthese allosterischer Modulatoren für G-Protein-gekoppelte-Rezeptoren · University of Marburg · PhD

Poor regio- or stereochemical control produces isomeric mixtures and coupling defects

4 theses · 4 institutions

Reactions on substrates with multiple potential reaction sites frequently lack C-H selectivity, generating structural defects and poor regioselectivity. Cross-coupling protocols also suffer from diminished diastereoselectivity or require specialized activating groups to direct coupling away from unproductive isomers.

Lost to a baseline

NHTK coupling with tBuLi or CrCl2/NiCl2 gave poor selectivity (dr = 1 : 1.1) compared to lithiation-borylation chemistry (dr > 19 : 1).

Studies towards the total syntheses of Antroalbocin A, Berkeleyone A, Pentacaronic Acid, and Penisarin B · Leibniz Universität Hannover · PhD

Lost to a baseline

Continuous flow bedaquiline coupling achieved lower diastereoselectivity (1.4:1.0 d.r., 42-44% AY) compared to the optimized batch protocol (2.5:1.0 d.r., up to 60% AY).

Stereoselective and Economical Methods for Chemical Synthesis of Essential Medicines · MIT · PhD

Considered and rejected

Considered and rejected: Rejected direct arylation for indenofluorene (IDF) core due to lack of C-H selectivity causing beta/gamma coupling defects; used Suzuki-Miyaura instead.

Developing organic semiconducting materials for organic photovoltaics and photocatalytic water splitting applications · Imperial · PhD

Left open by the authors

Problems the authors named and did not get to.

Left open

Develop reaction conditions for Pd-catalyzed coupling of ortho,ortho-disubstituted aryl halides for atroposelective biaryl synthesis. Blocker: Requires synthetic organic chemistry wet laboratory to conduct reaction optimization and testing

Beyond premetalation : leveraging transfer hydrogenation beyond carbonyl addition in biaryl coupling and studies toward the total synthesis of gladiolin mthyl ester · UT Austin · PhD

Left open

Develop enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed reductive coupling reactions using cheap, benign terminal reductants. Blocker: Requires a synthetic chemistry wet lab, reagents, catalysts, and analytical equipment

Carbon-carbon bond formation via transition metal-catalyzed transfer hydrogenative carbonyl addition · UT Austin · PhD

Left open

Develop reductive cross-couplings for sterically hindered, less reactive aryl bromides and chlorides. Blocker: Requires a wet chemistry laboratory, synthetic reagents, and chemical analysis equipment.

Development of catalytic carbon-carbon bond forming reactions by leveraging the iodide effect · UT Austin · PhD

Left open

Develop atroposelective reductive biaryl cross-couplings between sterically hindered substrates using ruthenium catalysis. Blocker: Requires a synthetic chemistry wet lab, reagents, catalysts, and physical analytical equipment (e.g., HPLC, NMR).

Development of catalytic carbon-carbon bond forming reactions by leveraging the iodide effect · UT Austin · PhD

Left open

Develop reductive cross-couplings of sp2-sp3 partners using non-metallic reductants. Blocker: Requires wet lab synthetic organic chemistry experiments and specialized reagents

Beyond premetalation : leveraging transfer hydrogenation beyond carbonyl addition in biaryl coupling and studies toward the total synthesis of gladiolin mthyl ester · UT Austin · PhD

Left open

Optimize base-metal catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura and Chan-Evans-Lam cross-coupling reaction conditions to eliminate homo-coupling byproducts. Blocker: Requires a wet chemistry laboratory, synthetic reagents, and analytical equipment to run and optimize chemical reaction conditions.

Applications of Catalysis in Hydroboration and Hydrosilylation of Unsaturated Organic Molecules · Texas Tech · PhD

Left open

Explore new catalytic cross-coupling pathways using dinickel-mediated oxidative addition while accounting for NHC 2-arylation. Blocker: Requires a wet-lab synthetic chemistry setup to synthesize nickel complexes and test catalytic reaction pathways.

Synthesis and analysis of low-valent NHC supported nickel complexes · Georgia Tech · PhD

Left open

Develop catalytic enantioselective couplings of methanol and ethanol for transferring alkyl and aryl groups without stoichiometric byproducts. Blocker: Requires a wet chemistry laboratory, synthetic reagents, and analytical equipment.

Commodity chemicals in enantioselective iridium-catalyzed carbonyl allylation · UT Austin · PhD

Left open

Evaluate CuTc-mediated Ullmann-like coupling reactions using the bio-based solvent cyrene. Blocker: Requires a wet chemistry laboratory, specialized organometallic reagents, and physical reaction testing

Towards the synthesis of multinuclear, branched and cyclic metallocene-containing complexes · Imperial · PhD

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