A catalyst with excellent oxidizing power that steals electrons from compounds has been developed. It is expected to become a cornerstone in various fields, including synthetic chemistry and metal catalyst development.

UNIST (President Yong-Hoon Lee) Chemistry Department Professor Jae-Heung Cho's team announced on the 20th that they had succeeded in synthesizing a new manganese-fluorine catalyst.

We utilized the macrocyclic pyridinophane coordination system, in which ions or molecules bind by surrounding atoms in a circular manner.

It was also confirmed that the developed catalyst can induce an 'oxidation' reaction that causes the toxic substance 'toluene derivative' to easily lose electrons.

Professor Cho Jae-heung explained, “The reason organic compounds with strong carbon-hydrogen bonds could be activated is due to the characteristics of manganese-fluorine species with high reduction potential.”

The development of organic catalysts through carbon-hydrogen bond activation is one of the major research fields that can be utilized in pharmaceuticals or industrial processes. In particular, efforts are being made to create economical metal catalysts by imitating the activities of various metalloenzymes in biomimetic research.

Recently, among metal enzymes, metal-halide substances that combine transition metals such as iron and manganese with halogen atoms such as fluorine have been attracting attention as intermediates that oxidize various organic substances.

The research team synthesized a new manganese-fluorine catalyst. It is the most reactive of the metal-halide species reported so far. When the reactivity is high, strongly bonded atoms can be broken down and converted into other compounds. It can be used in a wide range of industrial processes.

The research team analyzed the principle of how the developed catalyst causes oxidation reactions. They confirmed the changed reaction speed by controlling the electronic environment of various compounds with the developed catalyst. In particular, the newly developed catalyst was able to oxidize toluene derivatives with high efficiency. This is a reaction that could not be observed in existing metal-halide species.

Toluene derivatives are toxic substances that can have negative health effects when exposed to high concentrations as organic substances. It was confirmed that toluene derivatives are oxidized and transformed into less toxic compounds using the developed catalyst.

The first authors, researchers Jeong Dong-Hyeon and Lee Yu-Jeong, said, “This study is the first to report the physicochemical properties of transition metal-fluorine species, and presents a new principle of carbon-hydrogen bond cleavage based on electron transfer reactions.”
Professor Cho Jae-heung said, “It is particularly academically significant that we have proven the high oxidation ability of transition metal-fluorine species,” and predicted, “It could be helpful in the development of important metal catalysts not only in synthetic chemistry but also in the environmental and industrial fields.”

This study was jointly conducted by Professor Cho Jae-heung's research team, with researchers Jeong Dong-hyeon and Lee Yu-jeong as first authors. The research results were published online on February 4 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), a renowned international academic journal in the field of chemistry.

The research was conducted with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science and ICT, through the Step-up Carbon Neutral Technology Development Project, the Academic Next Generation Support Project, DACU Original Technology Development (R&D), and the National New Drug Development Project.