Dr Annie Colebatch
Areas of expertise
- Organometallic Chemistry 039904
- Catalysis And Mechanisms Of Reactions 030601
- Transition Metal Chemistry 030207
- Main Group Metal Chemistry 030204
- Polymerisation Mechanisms 030305
Research interests
We aim to address challenges in sustainability through the development of effective catalysts. Catalysis is the acceleration of a chemical reaction by lowering the energy required through addition of very small quantities of highly active chemicals (catalysts). This is of great significance industrially, as it is estimated that 90% of all products use catalysis during manufacture, environmentally, as catalysis reduces energy requirements for processes, and from a fundamental perspective for our understanding of chemical reactions.
Our focus is on understanding how such processes occur with homogeneous transition metal catalysts. The rational design of efficient catalytic systems requires knowledge of how catalysts and substrates behave in order to tune their reactivity and thereby deliver enhanced performance.
We are interested in designing organometallic catalysts which utilise molecular cooperativity. Our work involves the synthesis of ligands and their transition metal complexes, and studying their reactivity and catalytic behaviour, using an array of techniques including NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.
Biography
Annie completed her undergraduate degree and PhD at the Australian National University. She received an Endeavour Research Fellowship to work at the University of Bath (2015) with Prof Michael Hill, followed by postdoctoral appointments at the University of Oxford (2015-2017) with Prof Andrew Weller and the University of Cambridge (2017-2019) with Prof Dominic Wright. She returned to the ANU in 2019 as a Rita Cornforth Fellow to establish her independent research on the design of transition metal catalysts.
Available student projects
Designing cooperative transition metal catalysts
Transition metal catalysts are pervasive throughout synthetic, industrial and biological chemistry. Traditionally, catalytic activation of substrates occurs at the metal centre. Molecular cooperativity, wherein bifunctional substrate activation occurs across multiple sites within a catalyst, offers a powerful route to improve catalytic efficiency and selectivity, and develop new catalytic processes. We are interested in designing catalyst architectures which promote molecular cooperativity, and investigating the role of both metal-ligand cooperativity and metal-metal cooperativity in enabling efficient catalytic processes.
Catalysts for chemical hydrogen fuel storage
Hydrogen is a clean fuel that will play an important role in the decarbonised economy. However, storage and transportation are challenging as hydrogen is a gas with a low energy density. Chemical hydrogen storage using liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) allows hydrogen to be conveniently stored and transported covalently bonded to a suitable carrier, which can be catalytically hydrogenated and dehydrogenated to store and release the hydrogen fuel. In order for LOHCs to become technologically and economically viable, advances in catalyst efficiency, selectivity and stability are required. The goal of this research project is to investigate catalysts for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions of LOHCs using cooperative transition metal catalysts.
Publications
- Hanf, S, Colebatch, A, Stehr, P et al. 2020, 'An experimental and theoretical study of the coordination and donor properties of tris-2-pyridyl-phosphine ligands', Dalton Transactions, vol. 49, no. 16, pp. 5312-5322.
- Colebatch, A, Frogley, B, Hill, A et al. 2020, 'Pnictogen-Functionalised C1 Ligands: MC-ARn (n=0, 1, 2, 3)', Chemistry, A European Journal, vol. 27, pp. 23pp.
- Spearing-Ewyn, E, Beattie, N, Colebatch, A et al 2019, 'The role of neutral Rh(PONOP)H, free NMe2H, boronium and ammonium salts in the dehydrocoupling of dimethylamine-borane using the cationic pincer [Rh(PONOP)(η2-H2)]+ catalyst', Dalton Transactions, vol. 48, no. 39, pp. 14724-14736.
- Colebatch, A & Weller, A 2019, 'Amine-Borane Dehydropolymerization: Challenges and Opportunities', Chemistry, A European Journal, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 1379-1390.
- Colebatch, A, Frogley, B & Hill, A 2019, 'Phosphaisonitrile umpolung - synthesis and reactivity of chloro aminophosphino carbynes', Dalton Transactions, vol. 48, no. 28, pp. 10628-10641.
- Plajer, A, Kopf, S, Colebatch, A et al 2019, 'Deprotonation, insertion and isomerisation in the post-functionalisation of tris-pyridyl aluminates', Dalton Transactions, vol. 48, no. 17, pp. 5692-5697.
- Yang, E, Plajer, A, García-Romero, Á et al 2019, 'A Tris(3-pyridyl)stannane as a Building Block for Heterobimetallic Coordination Polymers and Supramolecular Cages', Chemistry, A European Journal, vol. 25, no. 61, pp. 14003-14009.
- Hirano, M, Kobayashi, H, Ueda, T et al 2018, 'In Situ Routes to Catalytically Active Ru(0) Species by Reduction of Readily Available, Air-Stable Precursors', Organometallics, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 1092-1102pp.
- Adams, G, Colebatch, A, Skornia, J et al 2018, 'Dehydropolymerization of H3B·NMeH2 to Form Polyaminoboranes Using [Rh(Xantphos-alkyl)] Catalysts', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 140, no. 4, pp. 1481-1495.
- Colebatch, A, Hawkey Gilder, B, Whittell, G et al 2018, 'A General, Rhodium-Catalyzed, Synthesis of Deuterated Boranes and N-Methyl Polyaminoboranes', Chemistry, A European Journal, vol. 24, no. 21, pp. 5450-5455.
- Plajer, A, Colebatch, A, Rizzuto, F et al 2018, 'How Changing the Bridgehead Can Affect the Properties of Tripodal Ligands', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 57, no. 22, pp. 6648-6652.
- Plajer, A, Colebatch, A, Enders, M et al 2018, 'The coordination chemistry of the neutral tris-2-pyridyl silicon ligand [PhSi(6-Me-2-py)3]', Dalton Transactions, vol. 47, no. 20, pp. 7036-7043.
- Turner, J, Chilton, N, Kumar, A et al 2018, 'Iron Precatalysts with Bulky Tri(tert-butyl)cyclopentadienyl Ligands for the Dehydrocoupling of Dimethylamine-Borane', Chemistry, A European Journal, vol. 24, no. 53, pp. 14127-14136.
- Pecharman, A, Colebatch, A, Hill, M et al 2017, 'Easy access to nucleophilic boron through diborane to magnesium boryl metathesis', Nature Communications, vol. 8, no. 15022, pp. 1-7.
- Colebatch, A & Hill, A 2017, 'Coordination chemistry of phosphinocarbynes: phosphorus vs. carbyne site selectivity', Dalton Transactions, vol. 46, no. 13, pp. 4355-4365pp.
- Colebatch, A, Han, Y, Hill, A et al 2017, 'Rearrangement of bis(alkylidynyl)phosphines to phosphaacyls', Chemical Communications, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 1832-1835 pp.
- Anker, M, Colebatch, A, Iversen, K et al 2017, 'Alane-Centered Ring Expansion of N‑Heterocyclic Carbenes', Organometallics, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 1173-1178.
- Colebatch, A, McKay, A, Beattie, N et al 2017, 'Fluoroarene Complexes with Small Bite Angle Bisphosphines: Routes to Amine-Borane and Aminoborylene Complexes', European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 38-39, pp. 4533-4540.
- Colebatch, A & Hill, A 2016, 'Chlorophosphino Carbyne Complexes of Tungsten', Organometallics, vol. 35, no. 13, pp. 2249-2255.
- Colebatch, A, Hill, A & Sharma, M 2015, 'Synthesis and Reactivity of Phosphinocarbyne Complexes', Organometallics, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 2165-2182.
- Liptrot, D, Arrowsmith, M, Colebatch, A et al 2015, 'Beyond Dehydrocoupling: Group 2 Mediated Boron-Nitrogen Desilacoupling', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 54, no. 50, pp. 15280-15283.
- Cade, I, Colebatch, A, Hill, A et al 2014, 'Allenylphosphonium complexes of rhodium and iridium', Organometallics, vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 3198-3204.
- Colebatch, A & Hill, A 2014, 'Secondary Phosphinocarbyne and Phosphalsonitrile Complexes', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 136, no. 50, pp. 17442-17445.
- Colebatch, A, Cade, I, Hill, A et al 2013, 'η2-Allenyl- and η2-Alkynylphosphonium Complexes of Platinum', Organometallics, vol. 32, no. 17, pp. 4766-4774.
- Colebatch, A, Hill, A, Shang, R et al. 2010, 'Synthesis of a thiocarbamoyl alkylidyne complex and caveats associated with the use of [Mo(≡CLi)(CO)2(Tp*)] (Tp* = hydrotris(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)borate)', Organometallics, vol. 29, no. 23, pp. 6482-6487.
- Hill, A, Colebatch, A, Cordiner, R et al 2010, 'The odd bit of carbon', Comments on Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 31, no. 3-4, pp. 121-129.
- Colebatch, A, Cordiner, R, Hill, A et al 2009, 'A Bis-Carbyne (Ethanediylidyne) Complex via the Catalytic Demercuration of a Mercury Bis(carbido) Complex', Organometallics, vol. 28, no. 15, pp. 4394-4399.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Cooperativity by Design: Unlocking Metal-Metal-Ligand Cooperativity (Primary Investigator)
- Australian Academy of Science 2020 J G Russell Award (Primary Investigator)