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PLEASE NOTE: If a candidate gives a layman's talk, the livestream will start fifteen minutes earlier.

Modern society relies heavily on catalysis for making essential materials like fertilizers, fuels, and plastics. This thesis focuses on a special type of potential catalysts called heteromultinuclear complexes (HMNCs), where different types of metals work together. Nature already uses such systems in certain enzymes to perform challenging chemical transformations, and researchers have been expanding these examples to synthetic systems.

This work explores how to combine different metals in a rigid molecular framework, which can unlock new types of reactivity. One highlight is the discovery of theoretically predicted Frustrated Lewis Trio (FLT), where titanium and phosphorus centres interact in a unique, cooperative way to activate chemical bonds.

This thesis also describes how subtle changes in specially designed molecules containing two magnesium atoms can drastically alter their chemical reactivity. A unique germanium complex was also synthesized, featuring a unique place to bind other metals in close proximity. This site can accommodate up to two electrons, allowing for the coordination of a wide range of metals. Both zinc and magnesium examples were isolated, with the interactions between the metals and germanium ranging from weak to strong. The germanium–magnesium complex is capable of cooperatively activating unsaturated carbon–carbon bonds in a new way.

Another finding involves a dicopper-based catalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR), an essential process in fuel cells. This new catalyst, inspired by natural enzymes, proved more selective than the analogue with a single copper site due to the two metal centres working together.

This thesis demonstrates how cooperativity between metals via strategic designs can lead to new possibilities in chemistry and sustainable technologies.