Invited
Oriented-external-electric-fields - New effectors in chemistry

The talk will discuss the potential of using oriented-external-electric-fields (OEEFs) as effectors of chemical change [1-5]. Generally speaking, an OEEF along the direction of electron reorganization from reactants to products, will catalyze/inhibit at will nonpolar reactions, while OEEF orientations off the “reaction axis” will control selectivity patterns and chiral discrimination [1,3]. The field’s direction will similarly affect bonds, molecular structures and aggregation [4].

The talk will involve a selection from the following topics: (a) Control of bond length and strength, and molecular structures [1,4], (b) control, of non-redox chemical reactions through a flip of the field’s direction, (c) control of regioselectivity (e.g., C=C vs C-H activation by oxoiron reagents (e.g., P450 like), exo/endo selectivity in Diels-Alder reactions), (d) control of spin-state selectivity, (e) control of reaction mechanisms, (f) the dilemma of electric fields in enzymes [4], (g) control of chiral discrimination and enantioselectivity [3], and (h) OEEFs as tweezers and catalysts (5).

[1] Shaik, S. et al, Nature Chem. 2016, 8, 1091-1098.

[2] (a) Aragonès, A. et al, Nature, 2016, 531, 88–91; (b) On prospects of scalability, see: Lin, Z.; Zeng, X.; Yu, S. Food Bioprocess Technol. 2012, 5, 2637-2645

[3] Wang, Z. et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 13350-13359.

[4] Shaik, S. et al, Chem. Soc. Rev. Tutorial, 2018, 47, 5125-5145.

[5] Wang, C. et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 7122-7136.