M. Sc. Justus Diekamp
Focus of work
- Late stage ligand modifications
- Biphasic homogenous catalysis
- Click chemistry
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Curriculum Vitae
Justus Diekamp studied Chemistry at the University of Rostock and finished his bachelor thesis on the ruthenium catalyzed reduction of α,β-unsaturated esters in the group of Prof. de Vries and Dr. Hinze at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT). He continued with the consecutive master in Rostock while focusing on homogenous catalysis. In 2021, he completed his master thesis on the topic of “Cheap Nickel and Chromium NNS complexes for Oligomerization and Polymerization of Ethylene” under supervision of Prof. de Vries and Dr. Tin at the LIKAT. During his studies, he received the scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Since April 2021, he has worked as a research associate at the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry with Prof. Vogt and Dr. Seidensticker.
Research Topic
A main issue for the industrial application of homogenous catalysts is the much more difficult recycling of the catalyst compared to heterogeneous systems. The approaches to this problem vary from enlarged catalysts that can be separated via membranes over improved thermos stability for distillations to modifications of the catalyst solubility for the fixation in biphasic solvent systems.
The most desirable way of introducing these catalyst modifications is on the synthesis’ late stage level as it allows the use of existing ligand syntheses and commercially available ligands. Due to the reactivity of heteroatoms in ligands, the late stage modifications call for selective reactions and/or protection strategies for the endangered functional groups.
A further possibility is the ligand synthesis from scratch but as a one-pot reaction that saves one the several purification steps a classic synthesis would require.
The current focus of research is on the late stage introduction of polar groups into existing ligands and the search for synthetic platforms that allow different kinds of ligand modification.
Publications
- Diekamp, J., Seidensticker, T., (2023) "Synthesis Strategies towards Tagged Homogeneous Catalysts To Improve Their Separation", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, e202304223, DOI: 10.1002/anie.202304223