Dr Erli Lu PhD

Dr Erli Lu

School of Chemistry
Associate Professor in Mechanochemistry and Sustainable Synthesis

Contact details

Email
e.lu@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@erli_lu
View my research portal
Address
Molecular Science Building
School of Chemistry
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Erli Lu is an expert in synthetic inorganic, organometallic and coordination chemistry, as well as mechanochemistry. His group’s research at Birmingham focuses on:

(1) Developing new chemistry of Group-1 alkali metal (especially Li, Na, K) to activate inert small molecules and chemical bonds (such as N2, H2, CO, C-H bond). The new chemistry will allow the community to phase out hazardous, costly and unsustainable precious metal catalysts and organic reagents.

(2) Developing solvent-free synthetic methods, directly using mechanical forces to promote chemical reactions (mechanochemistry). By phasing out one of the biggest carbon footprint contributors, solvent, this effort will lead chemical industry into a sustainable future.

Qualifications

  • Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry, Newcastle University (09.2019 – 06.2024)
  • PhD in Organic Chemistry (01.2012). Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • BEng in Materials Science and Engineering (06.2006). Tianjin Polytechnic University, China.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Lowe, M, Gallant, BM, Davison, N, Hopkinson, MN, Kubicki, DJ, Lu, E & Armstrong, RJ 2025, 'A reductive mechanochemical approach enabling direct upcycling of fluoride from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) into fine chemicals', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 147, no. 44, pp. 40895-40899. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c14052

Hemingway, JM, Yang, X, Waddell, PG, Cornelio, J, Lowe, ME, Dawson, JA, Slater, PR, Armstrong, RJ & Lu, E 2025, 'Non-aqueous separation of lithium and sodium perchlorates by selective coordination with a hexadentate semi-flexible amine ligand', Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5qi01799h

Davison, N, Hemingway, JM, Waddell, PG & Lu, E 2024, 'Lithium, sodium and potassium enolate aggregates and monomers: syntheses and structures', Dalton Transactions, vol. 53, pp. 4719-4728. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4DT00211C

Bowles, AWJ, Quirk, JA, Liu, Y, Morritt, GH, Freitag, M, Whitehead, GFS, Woodward, AW, Brookfield, A, Goodwin, CAP, Collison, D, Tuna, F, McMullin, CL, Dawson, JA, Lu, E & Ortu, F 2024, 'Mechanochemical Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Room Temperature Stable Calcium Electride', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 146, no. 42, pp. 28914-28924. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c09408

Davison, N, Hemingway, JM, Wills, C, Stolar, T, Waddell, PG, Dixon, CM, Barron, L, Dawson, JA & Lu, E 2024, 'Mechanochemical Synthesis of a Sodium Anion Complex [Na + (2,2,2-cryptand)Na – ] and Studies of Its Reactivity: Two-Electron and One-Electron Reductions', Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 63, no. 32, pp. 15247-15258. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c02914

Davison, N, Quirk, JA, Tuna, F, Collison, D, McMullin, CL, Michaels, H, Morritt, GH, Waddell, PG, Gould, JA, Freitag, M, Dawson, JA & Lu, E 2023, 'A room-temperature-stable electride and its reactivity: Reductive benzene/pyridine couplings and solvent-free Birch reductions', Chem, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 576-591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2022.11.006

Davison, N, Khatun, T, Arce-Garcia, I, Gould, JA, Dawson, JA & Lu, E 2023, 'Facile Mechanochemical Reduction and Lithium-Ion Doping of Transition-Metal Oxides', European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 26, no. 35, e202300344. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.202300344

Davison, N, McMullin, C, Zhang, L, Hu, S-X, Waddell, P, Wills, C, Casey, D & Lu, E 2023, 'Li vs Na: Divergent Reaction Patterns between Organolithium and Organosodium Complexes and Ligand-Catalyzed Ketone/Aldehyde Methylenation', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 145, no. 11, pp. 6562-6576. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c01033

Davison, N, Waddell, PG & Lu, E 2023, 'Reduction of K+ or Li+ in the Heterobimetallic Electride K+[LiN(SiMe3)2]e–', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 145, no. 31, pp. 17007-17012. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c06066

Davison, N & Lu, E 2023, 'The quest for organo-alkali metal monomers: unscrambling the structure–reactivity relationship', Dalton Transactions, vol. 52, no. 24, pp. 8172-8192. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3DT00980G

Davison, N, Waddell, PG, Casey, D, Wills, C, Penfold, TJ & Lu, E 2022, 'A monomeric (trimethylsilyl)methyl lithium complex: synthesis, structure, decomposition and preliminary reactivity studies', Dalton Transactions, vol. 51, no. 28, pp. 10707-10713. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1DT03532K

Goodwin, CAP, Wooles, AJ, Murillo, J, Lu, E, Boronski, JT, Scott, BL, Gaunt, AJ & Liddle, ST 2022, 'Carbene Complexes of Neptunium', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 144, no. 22, pp. 9764-9774. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c02152

Hu, S-X, You, X-X, Zou, W-L, Lu, E, Gao, X & Zhang, P 2022, 'Electronic Structures and Unusual Chemical Bonding in Actinyl Peroxide Dimers [An2O6]2+ and [(An2O6)(12-crown-4 ether)2]2+ (An = U, Np, and Pu)', Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 61, no. 39, pp. 15589-15599. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c02399

Comment/debate

Angerhofer, A, Auvray, T, Balema, V, Baláž, M, Batteas, JD, Blair, RG, Boldyreva, E, Bolm, C, Borchardt, L, Borchers, TH, Braunschweig, AB, Browne, DL, Carpick, RW, Ciaccia, M, Craig, S, Emmerling, F, Ferguson, M, Fiore, C, Friščić, T, Grätz, S, Halasz, I, Hamzehpoor, E, Ito, H, James, S, Kim, JG, Lamaty, F, Lampronti, GI, Laurencin, D, Leitch, J, Lu, E, Lukin, S, Mack, J, Maini, L, Martini, A, Mazzeo, PP, Michalchuk, AAL, Mittelette, S, Mohamed, S, Moores, A, Mortera-Carbonell, ADJ, Nagapudi, K, Niidu, A, Puccetti, F, Stahorský, M & Vugrin, L 2023, 'Kinetics and basic understanding: general discussion', Faraday Discussions, vol. 241, pp. 306-340. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2FD90082C

Letter

Barker, J, Davison, N, Waddell, PG & Lu, E 2023, 'Monomeric lithium and sodium silylbenzyl complexes: syntheses, structures, and C=O bond olefination', Chemical Communications , vol. 59, no. 52, pp. 8083-8086. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CC01376F

View all publications in research portal