Publications

Progressing the frustrated Lewis pair abilities of N‐heterocyclic carbene/GaR3 combinations for catalytic hydroboration of aldehydes and ketones

Bole Leonie J, Uzelac Marina, Hernán-Gómez Alberto, Kennedy Alan R, O'Hara Charles T, Hevia Eva

Inorganic Chemistry Vol 60, pp. 13784-13796 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c01276

Critical ligand and salt effects in organomagnesiate-promoted 3,3-disubstituted phthalides synthesis from 2-iodobenzoate derivatives

Touchet Sabrina, Yeardley Callum, O'Hara Charles T, Gros Philippe C

European Journal of Organic Chemistry Vol 2021, pp. 4835-4845 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202100899

Structural studies of donor-free and donor-solvated sodium carboxylates

Gauld Richard M, McLellan Ross, Kennedy Alan R, Carson Freya J, Barker Jim, Reid Jacqueline, O'Hara Charles T, Mulvey Robert E

European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry Vol 2021, pp. 1615-1622 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.202100167

Facile access to hetero-poly-functional arenes and meta-substituted arenes via two-step dimetalation and Mg/halogen-exchange protocol

Bruña Sonia, Kennedy Alan R, Fairley Michael, O'Hara Charles T

Chemistry - A European Journal Vol 27, pp. 4134-4140 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202004696

Ultrafast amidation of esters using lithium amides under aerobic ambient temperature conditions in sustainable solvents

Fairley Michael, Bole Leonie J, Mulks Florian F, Main Laura, Kennedy Alan R, O'Hara Charles T, García-Álvarez Joaquin, Eva Hevia

Chemical Science Vol 11, pp. 6500-6509 (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC01349H

Structural and metal-halogen exchange reactivity studies of sodium magnesiate biphenolate complexes

Yeardley Callum, Kennedy Alan R, Gros Philippe C, Touchet Sabrina, Fairley Michael, McLellan Ross, Martínez-Martínez Antonio J, O'Hara Charles T

Dalton Transactions Vol 49, pp. 5257-5263 (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1039/D0DT00904K

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Professional Activities

RSC Main Group Annual Meeting

Organiser

11/9/2015

OMCOS18

Participant

29/6/2015

Professor Michael Lappert Memorial Symposium

Organiser

1/4/2015

Invited lecture at the University of Leicester: Mixed Metal Magnesiate Chemistry: From Inorganic Structural Studies to Organic Synthetic Applications

Contributor

4/3/2015

Royal Society of Chemistry (External organisation)

Member

4/2014

New Directions in Chiral s-Block Chemistry and Mixed Metal Synthesis

Contributor

1/4/2014

More professional activities

Projects

Industrial Case Account - University of Strathclyde 2023 | Oultram, Samuel

Nelson, David (Principal Investigator) O'Hara, Charles (Co-investigator) Oultram, Samuel (Research Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2028

Unleashing Nickel (Pre-)Catalyst Activation, Speciation, and Inhibition | Oultram, Samuel

Nelson, David (Principal Investigator) O'Hara, Charles (Co-investigator) Oultram, Samuel (Research Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2028

New Bimetallic Chiral Reagents for Asymmetric Synthesis (Royal Society International Exchange: O'Hara (Strathclyde) and Touchet (Nancy) )

O'Hara, Charles (Principal Investigator)

New Bimetallic Chiral Reagents for Asymmetric Synthesis

01-Jan-2018 - 28-Jan-2020

Main Group Element Enhancement of Transition Metal C-H Bond Activation Chemistry

O'Hara, Charles (Principal Investigator)

01-Jan-2017 - 29-Jan-2021

Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP - University of Strathclyde) | Fairley, Michael

Hevia, Eva (Principal Investigator) O'Hara, Charles (Co-investigator) Fairley, Michael (Research Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2015 - 17-Jan-2020

Lithium Cuprates to Copper Lithiates: A New Dawn in Metal Catalysed Chemistry

O'Hara, Charles (Principal Investigator)

"Copper metal has been used by humans for at least the past 10,000 years. Native copper was one of the first metals discovered as it can exist in an uncombined form, and not as a natural mineral like most other more reactive metals. In the 20th century, copper emerged as an important metal for electrical wiring, pipework, architecture and industrial machinery, mainly due to its favourable chemical and physical properties including its ductility, very high electrical and thermal conductivity, durability and corrosion resistance. Copper also has an important biological role. It is an essential trace element, which is vital for the proper functioning of the body's organs and metabolism.

Copper is generally considered as a very unreactive metal; however, when it is chemically-combined with an organic (carbon-containing) molecule to produce an organocopper compound, a vastly different situation arises. One of the first organocopper reagents synthesised, methylcopper, is in fact highly explosive and too reactive to produce a safe, manageable and reproducible chemistry. But when combined with an organolithium compound, the new mixed lithium copper reagent displays a much higher stability which can be harvested to produce an exciting, useful chemistry allowing for a multitude of catalytic chemical transformations to be developed. This has allowed the facile synthesis of new important molecules, which over the past few years have transformed the pharmaceutical industry. Up until now, the fundamental science at play has dictated than these lithium copper reagents exist as lithium cuprates meaning that the lithium centre is formally positively charged, whilst the copper centre holds the negatively charged organic groups rendering it formally negatively charged.

In our group, we have recently made the breakthrough that it is possible to prepare a brand new type of lithium copper compound, where the positive-negative role that each metal plays has been reversed, producing an unprecedented copper lithiate. In this project, the scope of formation and catalytic reactivity of compounds displaying this new formulation and polarity reversal will be fully explored. Results from this new direction within mixed lithium copper chemistry will undoubtedly appeal to a broad spectrum of academics, including inorganic, organometallic and organic chemists, as well as to supramolecular chemists due to the unprecedented structural and coordination chemistry. This new methodology extended to catalysis will also be of considerable interest to researchers in the chemical industry (fine chemicals, pharmaceutical, agrochemical etc.) who strive to produce new key molecules in a facile manner for the benefit of humankind."

01-Jan-2013 - 30-Jan-2015

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