​The “Corteva Agriscience Lecture” was delivered by Prof. Magnus Rueping, Associate Director of KAUST Catalysis Center, at the 19^th Florida Heterocyclic and Synthetic Chemistry Conference (FloHet) on March 3^rd, 2020.

Florida Heterocyclic and Synthetic Chemistry Conference (Flohet) is a biennial conference addressing the most recent advances in heterocyclic and synthetic organic chemistry with particular emphasis on applications for pharmaceutical and agrochemical use.

Prof. Rueping, gave an oral presentation entitled: “Nickel Catalysis for C-C and C-heteroatom Bond Forming Reactions”. He presented his group’s latest results on the use of catalysis for the targeted synthesis of heterocycles, using a broad portfolio of photocatalytic and electrocatalytic, as well as metal-, organo- and biocatalytic transformations.

In this presentation, Prof. Rueping highlighted the introduction to the field of C-O bond activation as well as recent efforts to develop valuable new nickel catalyzed functional group interconversions. These include direct dealkoxylation, decarbonylation, deformity, and decarboxylation reactions. In addition, light-combined metal-catalyzed and photordox transformations were presented, including C (sp3) -H functionalizations and olefin functionalizations and their applications.