Dr. Keying Ding Awarded Two Grants to Fund Research into Catalytic Systems for Organic Synthesis

    Keying Ding and student

                 The research group of Dr. Keying Ding, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been awarded two externally funded grants to fund useful and exciting research.  The Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is providing $172,182 over three years to support a grant titled “A Rethinking of Borrowing Hydrogen: from Ligand Design to New Reactions and Mechanisms.”  The research funded by this grant will utilize a unique catalytic process known as “borrowing hydrogen” to form new carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bonds.  Dr. Ding aims to adapt this chemical process to use affordable and widely available base transition metals.

          The second award to the Ding Group is from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, which is providing $70,000 over three yeas for a project titled “Basic Transition Metal Complexes for Catalytic Amide Formation.”  Again, this research utilizes base transition metals, using them in a new catalytic system to selectively synthesize amide bonds, a chemical functional group ubiquitous to industrial and biological applications.

          Both projects will offer exciting and compelling research experiences for students of all levels at the interface of synthetic inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and catalysis. The broader impacts and educational activities of these awards will ultimately lead to a more diverse and educated workforce in the chemical sciences.  Dr. Ding’s awards add to the diverse portfolio of research funded by federal, state, and local agencies in the Department of Chemistry. 

          Hear Dr. Ding discuss these awards in this MTSU News story.