TunDrivChem: Quantum Tunneling Driving C-H Bond Activation Reactions via Nitrenes

Project funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) (Concurso de Projetos Exploratórios em Todos os Domínios Científicos 2023), grant 2023.11222.PEX. Funded amount: EUR 49,994, as stated by the source. Runs 2025-02-13 to 2026-08-12. Keywords: Quantum Mechanical Tunneling, Low-Temperature Spectroscopy and Kinetics, Nitrene Reactive Intemediates, C-N Bond-Forming Reactions, Exact sciences. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2026-07-23); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: According to quantum mechanics, atoms can behave as particles and waves, and as a consequence, they can transpose potential energy hills without having energy to climb over them. This fascinating phenomenon is called quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT). The occurrence of QMT in chemical reactions has been largely ignored by the organic chemistry community. The conceptual foundations used to rationalize the synthesis of organic molecules are based on theories that assume that nuclei behave as hard sphere particles, i.e., according to classical mechanics. However, recent evidence has shown that manifestations of QMT in organic reactions are much more prevalent than previously thought. Moreover, it has been shown that QMT not only makes reactions go much faster than the classical expectation but can also control the chemical reaction outcomes. For instance, we and others have discovered that specific molecules trapped in cryogenic media (3-20 K) react spontaneously by QMT to give products whose reaction paths have higher energy barriers than the alternative existing reaction channels. Such landmark results cannot be explained by current classical theories and lead to the emergence of a new reactivity paradigm coined as tunneling control. Surprisingly, QMT reactivity has never been harnessed to design organic and catalyst reactions. The only exception was a recent report in Science (late 2022) demonstrating a protocol for halogen-atom and group transfer reactivity enabled by hydrogen QMT. Having been among the very few groups in the world that have directly observed QMT reactions and revealed new QMT reactivity paradigms, our team wants to be at the forefront of research that will bring QMT chemistry paradigms to organic synthesis laboratories. This project intends to inaugurate such a research program with the development of synthetic strategies based on QMT driving C-H bond activation reactions via nitrenes. This project is grounded in our pioneering discoveries on [shortened; the full text is on the OpenAIRE page]

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT). Retrieved 2026-10-28. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

AI-assisted summary: The project "TunDrivChem" is funded by FCT with a grant of EUR 49,994, running from February 13, 2025, to August 12, 2026. It explores quantum mechanical tunneling in C-H bond activation reactions involving nitrenes. Suggested technology pillar: enabling. Generated by AI from the public source text; it may contain errors and the original source is authoritative.