Colloquium Natural and Life Sciences - Ian Riddlestone

Efficiency has become an increasing part of modern life - energy efficiency, resource efficiency, time efficiency, etc… Therefore, the development of more efficient chemical processes is of fundamental importance in the move towards a more sustainable chemical infrastructure and catalysis has a central role to play in achieving this goal. Synthetic inorganic chemistry seeks to prepare novel complexes that are of interest for understanding how chemical bonds are broken. This knowledge can then be used in the development of new catalytic processes. This talk will give examples of synthetic inorganic chemistry extending established bonding descriptions, identifying unusual methods for breaking bonds and designing a new anion (negatively charged species) to support reactive cations (positively charged species).