Transition metals promote a bewildering variety of reactions, and most of these have found application in organic synthesis and/or homogeneous catalysis. However, catalytic applications have mostly been discovered through serendipity. The long-term goal of my research is Catalysis by Design, i.e. the possibility to rationally design a catalyst for a desirable new reaction.
I am convinced that this will only become possible when we understand organometallic chemistry in much more detail than we currently do. Therefore, I study the detailed mechanisms of organometallic reactions relevant to homogeneous catalysis, using a wide variety of approaches (synthesis of model compounds, kinetics, spectroscopy, computational methods).
Current research topics are: