Oral Presentation Royal Australian Chemical Institute National Congress 2026

Catalytic reaction development and investigating mechanism (140885)

Sinead T Keaveney 1
  1. University of Wollongong, BARRACK HEIGHTS, NSW, Australia

Complex organic compounds are ubiquitous in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and materials chemistry industries, with these compounds often featuring a diverse range of functional groups. To meet the continuing demand for efficient, sustainable and selective strategies to access complex organic compounds, our toolbox of synthetic methods needs to continually expand. To address these challenges, my research focuses on applied organometallic catalysis and photocatalysis, to allow new synthetic methods to be developed.

We are interested in rationally designing catalysts to facilitate challenging and high-value chemical transformations, with detailed mechanistic studies used to guide catalyst design, to understand trends in reactivity and to direct the choice of experimental parameters. We use a range of mechanistic tools to provide insight into reaction mechanisms, including kinetic analyses, computational studies and a suite of X-Ray based techniques. This presentation will focus on our recent work where combined experimental and computational studies have been used to develop new reactivity, such as nickel-catalysed cross coupling reactions,[1] photocatalytic denitrogenation of triazoles,[2] and Rh-catalysed reaction development.[3]

 

References

[1] Solomon, N. S. D.;  Richardson, C.; Keaveney, S. T., Under Review; Solomon, N. S. D.; Keaveney, S. T., Aust. J. Chem 2025, 78, CH25103; Solomon, N. S. D.;  Bhadbhade, M.;  Tian, R.; Keaveney, S. T,. ChemCatChem 2022, 14, e202200918; Jacobs, E.; Keaveney, S. T. ChemCatChem 2021, 13, 637

[2] Bokosi, F. R. B.;  Shiels, O. J.;  Trevitt, A. J.; Keaveney, S. T., J. Org. Chem. 2024, 89, 13243; Bokosi, F. R. B.;  Shiels, O. J.;  Richardson, C.;  Trevitt, A. J.; Keaveney, S. T., J. Org. Chem. 2024, 89, 1836; Shiels, O. J.;  Menti-Platten, M.;  Bokosi, F. R. B.;  Burns, B. R.;  Keaveney, S. T.;  Keller, P. A.;  Barker, P. J.; Trevitt, A. J., Anal. Chem 2023, 95, 15472.

[3] Reza, T.; Tokareva, M. A.; Dobson, N. K.;  Shanahan, A. L.;  Sheather, K.;  Richardson, C.; Keaveney, S. T., ChemCatChem 2023, 15, e202301117; Tokareva, M. A.;  Pernik, I.;  Messerle, B. A.;  Glukhareva, T. V.; Keaveney, S. T., Catal. Sci. Technol. 2023, 13, 2772; Tokareva, M. A.;  Pernik, I.;  Lewis, W.;  Messerle, B. A.;  Glukhareva, T. V.; Keaveney, S. T., ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 5574.