Chemical Society Seminar: Purves Lecture: Doug Stephan-Frustrated Lewis Pairs: A general concept for reactivity across the Periodic Table

Abstract:

Over the last 17 years, the concept of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs)^[1] has emerged as an approach to transition metal-free hydrogenations as well as the activation of a wide range of small molecules. Indeed, the catalytic reductions of a wide variety of organic substrates, as well as the elegance of enantioselective metal-free hydrogenations have been developed. FLPs also react with or capture a wide variety of small molecules and the reactivity of C-H bonds, CO₂, CO, SO₂, N₂O olefins, and alkynes, diazomethanes, and other N₂-species. In these efforts, a wide range of combinations of Lewis acids and bases have been employed from alkali metal species to inert gas derivatives and applied in both stoichiometric and catalytic processes. In this lecture, we will describe select examples, affirming that the concept of FLPs is a general strategy for reactivity.

Bio:

 Doug Stephan, born in Hamilton, graduated with his BSc at McMaster (1976) and completed his PhD at UWO (1980). He then held a NATO PDF at Harvard, before beginning his independent career at the University of Windsor (1982). He was promoted to Associate Professor (1985), full Professor(1992) and named a NSERC Industrial Research Chair (2001), University Professor (2002), Canada Research Chair (2005), and Department Head (2003-2006). In 2008 he moved to the University of Toronto as a Professor and Canada Research Chair and in 2018, he was appointed University Professor. He was an Einstein Visiting Fellow at TU-Berlin from 20216-2019 and in 2020, he established an additional satellite laboratory at Ningbo University as a Zhedong Scholar Chair Professor. He was an Associated Editor for Chemical Society Reviews for 6 years, the Chair of the editorial board and is now Chair of the editorial board of Chemical Communications. In 2023, he was named the John C. Polanyi Chair of Chemistry at the University of Toronto.