Ligands in Catalysis

Dear Colleagues,

Ligand design occupies a central place in organic synthesis and catalysis. The ability of ligands to engender a variety of useful properties of organometallic complexes is the major enabling force for the discovery of new catalytic reactions, activation of small molecules, dramatically enhanced reactivity, exquisite chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivity, practical and user-friendly properties of organometallic complexes, stabilization of reactive organometallic species or unusual oxidation and bonding states of elements. Prominent examples include the discovery of bulky, electron-rich phosphine and NHC ligands that have revolutionized Pd-catalyzed cross-couplings, imidazolidinylidene ligands in olefin metathesis or chiral phosphines in asymmetric hydrogenation. These transformations are now critically important in academic and industrial research and a part of the everyday toolbox of all chemists. More recent developments have focused on the development of ligands for sustainable first-row transition metals, early transition metals, f-block elements, ambiphilic ligands or redox-active ligands, including in the very important area of photoredox catalysis and cooperation between two metal centers in multimetallic catalysis. It is clear that future advancements in metal complexes and their applications crucially depend on ligand design, whereas the ligand electronic, steric and topological properties provide numerous improvements to the reactivity and selectivity at the metal centers. This Special Issue aims to provide a broad survey of recent advances in ligand design in organometallic chemistry and outline various approaches in the field.

The Organometallic Section highlights important facets of organometallic chemistry on the interface of organic and inorganic chemistry, covering organometallic chemistry aspects ranging from synthesis to application. For more details, see:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/sections/organometallic_chemistry

Prof. Dr. Michal Szostak
Guest Editor

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