For the team of scientists of the Research Institute of Nanotechnology and New Materials of the YURSPU (NPI) under the leadership of the chief researcher, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Chemical Technologies V.M. Chernyshev, working together with Academician V.P. Ananikov, this year turned out to be intense and productive. In the first three months, Viktor Mikhailovich (co-authored with colleagues) published as many as three scientific articles in highly rated journals related to Q1.

The publication "Different effects of metal-NHC bond cleavage on the Pd/NHC and Ni/NHC catalyzed α-arylation of ketones with aryl halides" was published in the journal "Organic Chemistry Frontiers", a review article "Formation and stabilization of nanosized Pd particles in catalytic systems: Ionic nitrogen compounds as catalytic promoters and stabilizers of nanoparticles" published the journal "Coordination Chemistry Reviews", The material on the topic "Ni/NHC catalysis in C–H functionalization using air-tolerant nickelocene and sodium formate for in situ catalyst generation" appeared in the publication "Organic Chemistry Frontiers".

All three articles were published last March. All of them (as well as several previous ones that were published in 2019 – 2020) are the result of serious work done by Viktor Mikhailovich Chernyshev in the field of studying the properties of nickel catalysts as a substitute for palladium.

- Palladium is a very popular metal in organic chemistry, the basis of many catalysts. Many processes some time ago it was simply impossible to imagine without this metal, its use in the chemical industry, as well as in various types of production was a prerequisite. One of the leading directions today is the so–called "green chemistry" - an environmentally friendly technology that allows you to obtain various substances without emissions into the atmosphere and harmful waste. The problem with the approach is that palladium is a very expensive metal. It is more expensive than gold, - said V.M. Chernyshev. – Therefore, in order to reduce the cost of processes, it is industrially important to replace palladium with other, cheaper metals. Chemists all over the world have been struggling with the problem of finding a stable catalyst that can become a full-fledged replacement for palladium for more than one year. And our team managed to come close to solving it!

The choice of chemists fell on nickel. It is almost 5000 times cheaper than palladium, so it has long been considered as a substitute for this expensive metal. But until recently, nickel had a number of insurmountable limitations: with high catalytic activity, nickel compounds did not work stably enough so that they could be used everywhere as catalysts.

"In order for them to work in the quality we need, we need to use special forms of nickel, as well as apply special methods of its processing and use in catalytic systems," Viktor Mikhailovich explained. – Only specific unstable and expensive nickel compounds worked successfully, that is, the original goal was not achieved.

The team of scientists of the YURSPU (NPI) works together with the head. Laboratory of the N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Chemical Sciences Valentin Pavlovich Ananikov.

- Our work in this direction, and most importantly, our achievements, could not have taken place without the support we received on this difficult path, – said V.M. Chernyshev. – The fact that we started in-depth research, as they say, "took up this topic" is a great merit of Valentin Pavlovich Ananikov and the IOH RAS team. Of course, it is impossible not to mention the financial support of the Ministry of Defense. And a huge thank you from our entire team – the leadership of our university. If it were not for the attention that is being paid now to the development of material, technical and laboratory facilities, our study would not have taken place.

Chemists consider the NMR spectrometer to be a very important acquisition of the university for their work. It became possible to conduct some research only because this modern equipment appeared at the university.

- Of course, access to the equipment of the IOH RAS helps us a lot in solving many technical issues. But in order to achieve breakthrough results, it is necessary to conduct long-term system experiments, which are often simply impossible to organize remotely and during business trips.  With the NMR spectrometer at our disposal, we were able to study the reaction mechanisms and constantly monitor unstable, short-lived particles. This is a painstaking, lengthy process that requires the constant presence of a researcher and appropriate equipment, primarily NMR.

All the articles published this year are a collective work in which young researchers from YURSPU(NPI) Dmitry Pasyukov, Konstantin Shepelenko, Oleg Khazipov took part.

- Scientists from all over the world are working on the problem of stable and cheap nickel catalysts, it is very actively discussed, but so far it has remained unresolved, even with the frantic pace of development of nickel catalysis, - said Viktor Chernyshev. - We have made a significant step towards solving it! Prior to that, there were attempts to create nickel catalysts, but they were not stable and not applicable for industrial use. We are making a cheap and really suitable catalyst for industrial conditions: we are developing an approach when it is possible to take affordable and stable industrial nickel compounds and obtain catalysts directly in a flask or in a reactor – activating (converting them into a catalytically active form) with the help of safe and environmentally friendly activators, for example, formic acid compounds. In a series of published papers, we tell that in comparison with palladium, nickel compounds in some reactions give significantly higher activity and at the same time these compounds are significantly cheaper. This is the chemistry of the future, the chemistry of the 21st century. This opens up opportunities for cheaper and more environmentally friendly production of various organic substances – medicines, dyes, polymers, fuels, and various materials. This is a technique that will greatly simplify and reduce the cost of many technologies.

Accepting congratulations on the unequivocal success, the team of the Research Institute of Nanotechnology and New Materials does not plan to slow down the pace of work. The chemists of the YURSPU (NPI) have an impressive research plan for the near future, work is underway on a number of publications. The topics chosen for the work are wide and currently almost inexhaustible.

And this means that our chemists and nickel catalysis have a great, interesting future!