With the support of the Chemical Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor David Powers of Texas A&M University is studying new metal-free catalyst platforms for fine chemical synthesis. The use of metal-based catalysts in fine-chemical settings, such as pharmaceutical synthesis, is often expensive and imposes laborious purification processes to remove metal contaminants. The project will advance our understanding of the fundamental design elements that enable main group elements, such as iodine, to engage in efficient bond-forming processes. These insights will be used to design metal-free catalysts for an array of chemical transformations important in the preparation of functional organic small molecules. The results of the project will broadly impact the rational design and deployment of metal-free catalysts. Further, as the project investigates chemistry at the border or organic, inorganic, and main group chemistry, the project will provide training and educational opportunities to students at all education levels. With the support of the Chemical Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor David Powers of Texas A&M University is studying iodanyl radical catalysis as a platform for metal-free oxidation catalysis that is complementary to the chemistry of diamagnetic hypervalent iodine compounds. This project will define the elementary chemical steps that are available to iodanyl radical intermediates and utilize those mechanistic insights