SusChEM: Efficient Synthesis Using Heterogeneous Tools

Regents Of The University Of Idaho, Moscow ID

Investigators

Abstract

In this project funded by the Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Jakob Magolan of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Idaho will develop a unique class of synthetic methods that rely on the merger of heterogeneous catalysts and reagents with one-pot multi-step approaches. Some of these methods will utilize site-isolation, a unique property of insoluble reagents that enables the co-existence of seemingly incompatible reactive sites (such as acids and bases) in the same reaction mixture. This strategy, which remains largely unexplored by the synthetic community, will be exploited to achieve unusual one-pot synthetic transformations. New tandem concurrent heterogeneous catalysis strategies will be applied to a range of chemical transformations including reductive amination, aromatic amination, synthesis of 1,3-diketones, crossed aldols, and efficient preparation of several common heterocyclic motifs. One pot multistep reactions could have significant advantages in reducing waste generation and costs in chemical synthesis, as they minimize the number of isolation steps that are labor intensive and often generate a significant amount of waste solvents. Site isolation can also lead to reactivities that are difficult to achieve. These strategies are broadly applicable for use in the synthesis of a wide variety of compounds that are of interests to the pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural industries. The development of green chemistry themed experiments utilizing heterogeneous tools for use in undergraduate teaching laboratories is also planned. This project will provide excellent training of graduate and undergraduate students. Undergraduate summer research students will be recruited from within the University of Idaho as well as various 4-year colleges across the state. Efforts will be made to include students from minority groups that are underrepresented in the sciences.