Coburger Research group

Exploring the reactivity of biradicaloid complexes @ Technical University of Munich, Germany

We focus on the coordination chemistry of unusual cyclic phosphorus-centered biradicaloids. Despite their exotic nature, these biradicaloids have some very appealing properties for the development of functional and cooperative ligands such as their strong binding to metal centers, their redox non-innocent behavior and the presence of Lewis-basic sites.

Our goal is to use these properties to develop more sustainable approaches in homogeneous catalysis, specifically by using biradicaloid ligands to enable first-row transition metals and main-group metals to mimic the behavior of noble metals in olefin functionalization.

Shown on the right below are two typical biradicaloids and representative complexes thereof which are used in our group:



Chemical laboratories have a significant carbon footprint. To tackle the climate crisis effectively, it is essential to conduct relevant research activities while ensuring they are carried out sustainably. By implementing sustainable practices, scientists can set an example and inspire positive change within the wider community. For more information, you can find an article detailing the principles of sustainable laboratory practices here.


In our own laboratoy, we try to implement as much of these concepts as possible. In particular, we aim to:

  • reduce plastic waste by avoiding single-use utensils or reusing them as much as possible
  • reduce halogenated solvent waste by recycling of e.g. fluorobenzene and 1,2-difluorobenzene
  • use of green(er) solvent alternatives, e.g. 2-methyltetrahydrofuran instead of THF


In the future, we also aim to use more ressource-friendly benchtop analytical devices (NMR, EPR etc.) for routine measurements.

Michael Neuwirt

PhD student

Cooperative Base Metal Catalysis

Stefan Frei

PhD student

Four-membered Biradicaloids

David Zuber

PhD student

Five-membered Biradicaloids

Peter Coburger

Group leader

Former group members

2024:

[04] Redox-induced Dimerisations of a phosphacyclic Biradicaloid

D. Zuber, O. Storcheva, K. P. Lüdtke, L. Brunk, P. Coburger*, Chem. Commun. 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D4CC05656F.

[03] On the role of aurophilic interactions in determining geometries in [Pn(AuL)4]+ complexes (Pn = N, P, As)

P. Coburger,* T. Hadlington,* ZAAC 2024, e202400198 (dedicated to H. Schmidbaur on the occasion of his 90th birthday).


2023:

[02] Phosphonium-substituted Diphosphaindenylide (PPI): Exploration of Biradical Character and Ligand Properties

P. Coburger,* D. Zuber, C. Schweinzer, M.Scharnhölz, Chem. Eur. J. 2023, e202302970.

[01] Redox-chemistry of Pyramidanes: A DFT Study

P. Coburger,* Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2023, e202300596 (part of the collection “Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms”).




2025:

02/2025

  • Stefan and Peter travel to Innsbruck to attend the EWPC (European Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry, including the other pnictogen elements for the first time). Alongside seeing some old friends, this conference brought together PhD students from around Europe, resulting in three days of fascinating pnictogen chemistry. Stefan provided his first talk at an international conference (with great success!).


01/2025

  • A visit from Wiley-VCH! Axel Straube, editor of Chemistry - A European Journal and ChemPlusChem, visits TU Munich to provide a workshop on publishing.  Axel gave two fascinating talks sharing first-hand editorial insights into the publishing process and ethical aspects regarding scientific misconduct, paper mills and data manipulation. The succesful workshop was followed by a lovely "Nachsitzung" at the Augustiner in Garching.



2024:

12/2024

10/2024

  • The special collection: "Non-innocent ligands in sustainable catalysis" appeared in ChemCatChem and EurJIC! It features Peter and Julia Khusnutdinova as co-guest editors and covers selected examples illustrating the role of the ligand in enabling (or disabling) catalytic bond cleavage/formation processes via metal-ligand and metal-metal cooperation. The special collection can be found here.          

09/2024

  • We welcome Michael Neuwirt to the group. He will be working on metal-ligand cooperativity in modified biradicaloid complexes - all the best, Michi :)
  • Our group attented the "Wöhlertagung"/GdCh conference on inorganic chemistry hosted at TUM (also in part organised by us). Lots of interesting talks and posters and David presented our work on exotic main group cations.

05/2024

  • After a while, we finally assembled our photoreactor equipped with a medium-pressure mercury lamp!

04/2024

  • Some new group members will join soon (research internships, Master's Thesis and a PhD student) - time to reorganise and clean the glovebox!

03/2024

  • Peter travels to the "Chemiedozententagung" in Aachen. Yet another fruitful conference visit, apart from the rather underwhelming weather :D
  • David and Peter travel to the EWPC (European Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry) in Würzburg, Germany. While it was the fifth time for Peter, it was Davids first conference including a nice poster presentation with lots of interesting discussions!

02/2024

  • Our UV-vis spectrometer arrived. A very helpful (and necessary) tool, as we are beginning to dip our toes in photochemistry!
  • Our first project student, Leon, joins the group. He will be working on a theoretical project dealing with the ligand properties of biradicaloids.


2023:

12/2023

  • Great news! Our Emmy-Noether proposal "Carbene- and phosphine-substituted biradicaloids for sustainable catalysis (CarPhoSCat)" got funded! This gives us the oppurtunity to dive deeper into the exctiting coordination chemistry and reactivity of biradicaloids and to develop novel approaches in catalytic olefin functionalization.

11/2023

  • The first two publications from the group are out! The first one is a DFT study investigating the redox behavior of pyramidanes and the second one is our first novel biradicaloid ligand (see the Publications section for details).

09/2023

  • Peter travels to the EuChemS Inorganic Chemistry Conference  (Vienna, Austria) to present our new biradicaloid! This was a very nice conference with many interesting talks and presentations.

08/2023

  • Finally a "group" - David joins the lab as the first PhD student!

04/2023

  • After some time, chemicals and glassware are ordered, the fumehood is set up and the glovebox is finally running well. Time to do some chemistry!

03/2023

  • Peter travels to the "Chemiedozententagung" (Dresden, Germany) and the PBSi (Berlin, Germany).

01/2023

  • Exciting times ahead! Peter arrives at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to start his independent career as a junior research group leader funded by with a Liebig sholarship of the VCI.


Academic career 

Peter received his Master's degree from the University of Leipzig in 2015. He then conducted his PhD research with Prof. Evamarie Hey-Hawkins (2015 - 2019, University of Leipzig). The research focussed on utilizing carborane-substituted diphosphetanes as synthons for new phosphorus-based ligands. The PhD project was followed by a postdoctoral research project with Prof. Robert Wolf (2019 - 2020, University of Regensburg). This focussed on the computational exploration of unusual phosphorus ligands and their metal complexes. Then, following his passion for exotic phosphorus compounds, Peter relocated to the ETH Zurich to work as a postdoctoral research fellow in the group of Prof. Hansjörg Grützmacher (2020 - 2022). Here, he developed the coordination chemistry and redox chemistry of biradicaloid ligands. At the beginning of 2023, he started his independent research career at the TU Munich, initially supported by a Liebig Fellowship of the FCI and from 2024 onwards funded by the Emmy-Noether programme of the DFG.

Awards

  • 2024: Emmy-Noether Fellowship of the DFG
  • 2023: Liebig fellowship of the FCI
  • 2020: Research fellowship (Postdoc) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  • 2020: BuildMoNa Award (3rd place) for “Outstanding Scientific Results”
  • 2016: PhD fellowship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes
  • 2014: Fellowship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (chemistry studies)

Key Publications 

  • P. Coburger, D. Zuber, C. Schweinzer, M.Scharnhölz, Phosphonium-substituted Diphosphaindenylide (PPI): Exploration of Biradical Character and Ligand Properties, Chem. Eur. J. 2023, e202302970.  
  • P. Coburger, F. Masero, J. Boesken, V. Mougel, H. Grützmacher, A Germapyramidane Switches Between 3D Cluster and 2D Cyclic Structures in Single-Electron Steps, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202211749.
  • M. T. Scharnhölz, P. Coburger, L. Gravogl, D. Klose, J. J. Gamboa-Carballo, G. Le Corre, J. Bösken, C. Schweinzer, D. Thöny, K. Meyer, Z. Li, H. Grützmacher, Bis(imidazolium)-1,3-diphosphete-diide: A Building Block for FeC2P2 Complexes and Clusters, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202205371.
  • P. Coburger, J. Leitl, D. Scott, G. Hierlmeier, I. Shenderovich, E. Hey-Hawkins, R. Wolf, Synthesis of a Carborane-substituted Bis(phosphanido) Cobaltate(I), Ligand Substitution, and Unusual P4 Fragmentation, Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 11225-11235.
  • P. Coburger, S. Demeshko, C. Rödl, E. Hey-Hawkins, R. Wolf, Oxidative P−P Bond Addition to Cobalt(−I): Formation of a Low‐Spin Cobalt(III) Phosphanido Complex, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 15871–15875.                                                            
Contact & Open positions
Adress:
Peter Coburger
Department of Inorganic Chemistry with Focus on New Materials
Lichtenbergstraße 4
85747 Garching b. München
peter.coburger@tum.de


We are always looking for motivated students who would like to perform their research internship, Bachelor's or Master's Thesis in our group.

Currently, we are not offering any funded PhD or Postdoc positions, but there is always the possibility to write a proposal together - drop us a mail, if you are interested!