Pernilla Öberg

Industrial chemical production, including that of materials and pharmaceuticals, is a cornerstone of modern society; however, the negative impacts on health and environment are wide-ranging. This stems from the pervasive use of toxic and/or scarce compounds, along with high waste generation and energy consumption. For this reason, the development of sustainable synthetic processes has become a key research priority. Hypervalent iodine reagents are of interest due to their low toxicity and efficiency in mild-condition syntheses, allowing for the circumvention of otherwise expensive, low-abundant and harmful transition metal catalysts. Through the use of computational chemistry, it becomes possible to explain their structure and function on a molecular level, gaining further insight into these new reaction pathways.