Catalytic allylation and benzylation methods

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In this project funded by the Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Jon Tunge of the Department of Chemistry at The University of Kansas will develop new decarboxylative coupling reactions. The proposed decarboxylative allylation and benzylation methods utilize CO2 release as a driving force for the synthesis of chemotypes that are prevalent in materials and pharmacologically important small molecules. Compared to other coupling methods, decarboxylative coupling offers the following benefits: i) carboxylic acids are abundant, ii) loss of CO2 provides an inherent large energetic driving force for reactions, iii) it avoids expensive, toxic, and highly basic reagents commonly employed for transmetallation, and iv) the byproduct is gaseous and therefore easily removed. At the completion of this project, it is expected that new methods for the synthesis of benzyl ketones, phenethylamines, benzyl coumarins, diaryl ethanes and asymmetric syntheses of gamma, delta-unsaturated esters, benzyl ketones, and diaryl methanes will have been developed. Furthermore, the proposed research will provide the chemical community with fundamental insight into these unique processes which involve the oxidative addition of C-O bonds. The broader impacts include advancing the fundamental knowledge of chemical reactions and providing synthetic chemists with environmentally friendly methods for the synthesis of enantioenriched compounds that are important intermediates in the synthesis of medicinally relevant natural products and small molecules. In addition to providing chemists with the tools to construct molecules in a highly selective manner, the proposed research will also provide a cornerstone for the training of undergraduate and graduate students who are society's future research scientists. Outreach via partnering with a small Midwestern school (Hastings College) to provide undergraduates research opportunities and free dissemination of "notes" on catalytic chemistry via the Tunge group website are just two of the ways that funding of this proposal will impact the broader community of upcoming scientists.