Event Details

Professor Liam Ball (University of Bristol) joins us for a talk on weak nucleophiles. Also available on Microsoft Teams

The catalytic cross-coupling of C-, N- and O-nucleophiles is an essential tool for the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. However, despite the highly sophisticated state of the art, the arylation of weak nucleophiles remains challenging due to the low rate of reductive elimination from highly polarized M−R bonds. This lecture will present recent results from my lab on the electrophilic arylation of weak nucleophiles, including through the use of non-toxic Bi(V) reagents (Scheme 1). This methodology relies on in situ generation of a reactive Bi(V) arylating agent from a bench-stable Bi(III) precursor via telescoped B-to-Bi transmetallation and oxidation. Insight from experimental and computational mechanistic studies has revealed the key role that the identity of the Bi(V) intermediate plays in controlling reactivity and selectivity, ultimately allowing extension of our methodology from the ortho-selective arylation of phenols¹ to O-H,² C(sp³)-H³ and meta-selective⁴ arylation.

Scheme 1: Bismuth-mediated electrophilic arylation.

References:

1. Jurrat, M.; Maggi, L.; Lewis, W.; Ball, L. T. Nature Chem. 2020, 12, 260.

2. Ruffell, K.; Gallegos, L. C.; Ling, K. B.; Paton, R. S.; Ball, L. T. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202212873.

3. Ruffell, K.; Argent, S. P.; Ling, K. B.; Ball, L. T. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202210840.

4. Senior, A.; Ruffell, K.; Ball, L. T. Nature Chem. 2023, 15, 386.

About the speaker

Liam Ball completed his Master’s degree at the University of Bristol in 2009. He obtained his PhD from the same institution in 2014 under the supervision of Dr Chris Russell and Professor Guy Lloyd-Jones FRS, and moved with Prof. Lloyd-Jones to Edinburgh for postdoctoral research. Liam began his independent career at Nottingham in 2015, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021, and to Full Professor in 2024. In 2025, Liam moved with his group to the University of Bristol, where he is a Professor of Chemistry and currently holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.

Liam’s research has been recognised with the RSC Hickinbottom Award (2024), the RSC-BMOS Early Career Award (2024), the RSC Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms Early Career Award (2024), the UK Blavatnik Award for Chemical Sciences (2025), and the AstraZeneca UK Prize in Synthetic Chemistry (2026).

This seminar will take place in Cavendish Colloquium Room (Faraday Complex) and via teams – Join Here