Site-isolation of catalysts within "smart" thimbles for cascade reactions and recycling

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。该项目将开发使用聚合顶针现场隔离商业可获得的Pd、Mn、Cr和Co催化剂的方法。催化剂的结构不会改变；位置隔离方法将与已针对其反应进行优化的催化剂兼容，而不是针对位置隔离进行优化。这些催化剂将被回收，并在反应容器中存在不止一个催化剂的情况下用于连续反应。多个催化剂将被添加到一个反应容器中，因为它们将相互隔离，但有机分子将可以自由地与多个催化剂反应。通过这一奖项，有机和高分子化学项目将支持爱荷华大学化学系的Ned B.Bowden教授的研究。鲍登教授的研究工作集中在开发一般方法，在不改变催化剂结构的情况下对催化剂进行现场隔离。这项工作将允许回收催化剂，分离出具有极低有害金属污染物负载量的产品，并开发新的顺序反应。这项工作将对制药、农业和其他使用金属催化剂生产小分子的行业产生重要影响。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project will develop methods to site-isolate commercially available Pd, Mn, Cr, and Co catalysts using polymeric thimbles. The structures of the catalysts will not be altered; the method of site-isolation will be compatible with catalysts that have been optimized for their reactions rather than optimized for site-isolation. These catalysts will be recycled and used in sequential reactions with more than one catalyst present in a reaction vessel. Multiple catalysts will be added to a reaction vessel because they will be site-isolated from each other, but organic molecules will be free to react with multiple catalysts. The mechanism of site-isolation will also be investigated.With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Professor Ned B. Bowden of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Iowa. Professor Bowden's research effort centers on the development of general methods to site-isolate catalysts without altering their structures. This work will allow catalysts to be recycled, products to be isolated with very low loadings of hazardous metal contaminants, and new sequential reactions to be developed. This work will have an important impact on pharmaceutical, agricultural, and other industries that use metal catalysts to yield small molecules.