Ylide ligands and abundant metals for catalysis and optics – LYMACATO

The LYMACATO project is an integrated sustainable project based on abundant and cheap transition metals (Fe, Co, Ni), and original chelating ylide-based ligands with two complementary objectives; develop green catalysts and photophysically active compounds. Incorporation of electron-rich phosphonium ylides (C- - P+) and/or their nitrogen analogues, the iminophosphorane (N- - P+)), into the ligand structure should be beneficial for targeted catalytic transformations (hydrosilylation, hydroboration, hydrogenation-type reactions, C-O functionalization). Meanwhile these ligands should be able to afford first row metal complexes with extended lifetime of the excited charge-transfer states because of destabilization of metal-center energy states responsible for the rapid deactivation commonly observed with non-noble metals. They could therefore offer a real alternative to the heavy and rare metals complexes used nowadays for photophysical applications.