Ubiquitous but inert molecules such as molecular nitrogen and carbon dioxide are processed in biological systems under
mild conditions in stark contrast to existing industrial processes such as nitrogen 'fixation' which require drastic
temperatures and pressures to perform the same function. This project addresses this inbalance by using modern
computational methods to design highly-tuned, low-coordinate metal complexes which are specific for the activation and
scission of small molecules possessing strong, multiple bonds. These complexes offer new, inexpensive and less hazardous
routes to generating high-value products from simple industrial feedstock molecules, and provide a template for building
metal complexes with novel ligands.