The Wendt group

 
 

Our work is in the general field of organotransition metal chemistry and the goal is to find and develop organometallic reactions with possible applications in homogeneous catalysis. We use specialised synthetic techniques, including high-vacuum, Schlenk and glove box work. Structural characterisation is performed using mainly multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. In our work we always try to understand reaction mechanisms in as much detail as possible using, inter alia, kinetics measurements and spectroscopic identification of inter-mediates. In the last couple of years we have also started work in the area of heterogeneous catalysis.


Ongoing research:

  1. • Green chemistry: developing reactions for the use of under-utilised carbon sources, such as carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, as starting materials for the chemical industry using sustainable methodology.

  2. • Organometallic chemistry of palladium, platinum, gold, rhodium and iridium complexes primarily based on pincer and carbene ligands.

  3. • Application in homogeneous catalysis for carbon dioxide and C-H  bond activation

  4. • Heterogeneous catalysts based on metal nano-particles for air oxidation of hydrocarbons.

About Ola F. Wendt


Ola F. Wendt received his under-graduate degree at Lund University in 1992 doing his diploma work with Ulf Berg on inclusion compounds with cyclodextrins. For his graduate degree he worked with Lars Ivar Elding at Lund University on studies on mechanisms of substitution processes in platinum(II) and palladium(II), both in classical coordination and organometallic compounds. This led to a PhD in inorganic chemistry in 1997. He then moved to Caltech in Pasadena to do postdoctoral work with John Bercaw on organozirconium chemistry related to olefin polymerisation. He was appointed assistant professor at Lund University in 2000 on a Swedish Research Council grant. He became "Docent" in 2003 and is since October 2007 he holds a Special Research position in Green Chemistry sponsored by the Swedish Research Council. In February 2010 he became a full professor of Inorganic Chemistry and since January 2011 he is Head of the Centre for Analysis and synthesis.

Ola F. Wendt


Centre for analysis and synthesis (CAS)

Lund University

P.O. Box 124

SE-221 00 Lund

Sweden


Phone: +46-46-2228153


E-mail: ola.wendt@chem.lu.se