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SUMMARY:Electrons as Energy Currency in Sustainable Chemistry
LOCATION:Chemistry A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20230428T160000
UID:2026-04-22-05-39-12@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260422T053912
Description:About the Seminar\n\nThis talk will introduce the rational desi
 gn of next-generation redox-active molecules for sustainable use-inspired 
 applications. We describe the synthesis and activity of specially-designe
 d redox organocatalysts for the electrochemically-driven recycling of est
 er plastics and mechanistic studies on molecular analogues\, and demonstra
 te the first examples of molecularly-catalyzed redox depolymerization reac
 tions. We additionally describe our studies towards sorbents for the capt
 ure of carbon dioxide from dilute sources such as air. We show the electro
 chemical generation of organic nucleophiles (C and O-nucleophiles)\, with 
 a focus on chemical species known to rapidly capture CO2 under cathodic c
 onditions\, and that release the bound CO2 under anodic conditions. We fi
 rst introduce the thermodynamics of redox-reactive CO2-binder chemical spa
 ce for electrochemical reactive capture and release of CO2 by electrochem
 ically-generated nucleophiles. We then use this thermodynamic understandin
 g to guide the synthetic development of new robust redox-reactive media fo
 r the capture of CO2 from dilute sources that take advantage of the benef
 icial bulk properties of ionic liquids and the well-established redox chem
 istries of reduced quinones. We conclude with  recent studies on use of t
 emperature as a means to control the potential of electrochemical reaction
 s and discuss implications in the context of development of electrochemica
 l synthetic methods.\n\nAbout the Speaker\n\nOana Luca is a graduate of Wo
 rcester Polytechnic Institute (BS ’08) and Yale University (MS ’10\, P
 hD ’13) where she worked with Professor Robert H. Crabtree. Her postgrad
 uate work in inorganic and physical organic chemistry at Caltech in the Jo
 int Center for Artificial Photosynthesis and the Scripps Research Institut
 e addresses applications of electrochemical methods for the synthesis and 
 interconversion of chemical species in organic reactions. This work has di
 rect applications to battery\, fuel cell and solar device designs as well 
 as electrosynthetic methods for functionalization of organic compounds. He
 r scientific interests span a wide range of research fields from the engin
 eering of devices for energy production and storage\, to molecular orbital
  interactions in surface science\, to electrochemical applications in orga
 nic synthesis\, carbon capture\, polymer recycling and in operando assessm
 ents of product distributions. 4:00 pm
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