Metal-Catalyzed Coupling Reactions

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The development of powerful new methods for the generation of carbon-carbon bonds has an impact on a wide array of disciplines that require the synthesis of organic compounds (e.g., biological chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, and biology); transition metals can catalyze carbon-carbon bond-forming processes, such as cross-couplings of organic electrophiles and nucleophiles, that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to achieve. Furthermore, because the two mirror-image isomers (enantiomers) of a molecule generally have different biological activity due to the handedness of the molecules of life (e.g., peptides, DNA, RNA, and carbohydrates), there is a need in the biomedical community to efficiently generate compounds in stereoisomerically pure form. This research program is directed at addressing both of these challenges. During the next grant period, a largely unexplored dimension of cross-coupling reactions will be investigated: processes that employ alkyl electrophiles as substrates. Efforts will focus on the development of versatile catalysts, including chiral catalysts, for a wide range of powerful bond-forming processes. Such reactions have the potential to simultaneously generate a carbon-carbon bond and to define up to two new stereocenters. Mechanistic studies will play an important role in this project, since an improved understanding of metal-based reactivity will facilitate catalyst development. This research program offers an opportunity to have a substantial impact on synthetic chemistry, as well as to enrich our understanding of once-unexpected chemical reactivity.