Methane is a notorious greenhouse gas that is released into the environment from agricultural and industrial processes; this contributes to global warming. The conventional technique for the conversion of methane gas to liquid methanol is an expensive, high energy two-step process that requires centralized production. Development of a low energy route for this oxidation is desirable because methanol easier to store due to its liquid form and has industrial applications such as fuel, antifreeze, waste-water treatment, and fuel cells. The biological system that converts methane to methanol are soluble methane monooxygenase enzymes (sMMO), which contain a diiron active site. We aimed to synthesize a diiron complex of N,N-(phenanthrene-3,6-diyl)bis(N,N-dimethylethane-1,2-diamine) in an attempt to replicate sMMO’s ability to oxidize methane to methanol. The overall synthesis of our pro-ligand was completed in 5 steps. In the final step of the synthesis, 3,6-dibromophenanthrene was reacted with N,N–dimethylethylenediamine through a Buchwald Hartwig amination reaction. Future work for this system will target coordinating the pro-ligand to a diiron complex to test its catalytic activity towards methane oxidation.

Synthesis of N,N-(phenanthrene-3,6-diyl)bis(N,N-dimethylethane-1,2-diamine) for coordination to diiron complexes

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.