Professor Christo Sevov (Ohio State University)

Title: Electrochemical Methods for C-C and C-X Bond-Forming Reactions

Abstract: The seminar will describe our efforts towards the development of scalable, mild, and general electrosynthetic methodologies for C–C and C–X coupling reactions. These electrosynthetic methodologies are possible because of a synergy between conventional transition metal catalysts for cross coupling and redox-active mediators developed by the battery community. Co-catalytic quantities of redox mediators serve to assist in electron transfer with the coupling catalyst, protect the coupling catalyst from over-oxidation/reduction and degradation, or promote in the formation of highly-reactive intermediates. A discussion of strategies for late-stage diversification of drug-like molecules from a common organometallic platform will be described. A wide range of coupling reactions to install new C-C and C-X bonds can be reliably performed in a high-throughput fashion to access structures in new chemical space. The seminar will conclude with studies into the elementary organometallic reactions performed by nickel that will ultimately be applied to modification of plastics. 

Biography: Christo was born in Sofia, Bulgaria and moved to the US at the age of four. He spent his formative years in South Bend, IN and received his B.S. in 2009 from the University of Notre Dame. There, Christo worked with Prof. Olaf Wiest on photocatalyzed cycloaddition reactions with selectivities that complement those of traditional Diels-Alder processes. Christo earned his Ph.D. in 2014 after beginning his studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Prof. John Hartwig and later moving with the group to the University of California Berkeley. His research involved the development of methods and mechanistic study of metal-catalyzed additions of C–H, N–H, and O–H bonds across alkenes. Following his doctoral studies, Christo conducted his postdoctoral work with Prof. Melanie Sanford at the University of Michigan. Applying an organic chemist’s approach to energy storage, Christo designed new organic and organometallic compounds that could serve as redox liquids for large-scale flow batteries. Christo joined the faculty of The Ohio State University in the summer of 2017 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry where he is merging his love of catalysis and electrochemistry.