GOALI: SusChEM: An industrial-academic collaboration for high throughput discovery of base metal catalysts

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In this Grant Opportunities for Academic Liasons with Industry (GOALI) project funded by the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Paul Chirik of Princeton University in full collaboration with Dr. Matt Tudge and his colleagues at Merck will develop base metal catalysts for drug discovery and production. The proposed research focuses on the asymmetric olefin hydrogenation reaction, a key transformation for the synthesis of single enantiomer organic molecules with biological activity. In collaboration with scientists at Merck, high throughput experimentation will be employed to identify metal-ligand combinations that exhibit high catalytic activity and enantioselectivity. Once suitable catalysts are identified, the Princeton group will independently synthesize and isolate these compounds and elucidate their electronic structure through a combination of spectroscopic, magnetic, structural and computational studies. The broader impacts of this research will include the exposure of undergraduate and graduate students to an industrial research setting at the Merck research site in Rahway, NJ. Chirality, the handedness of a molecule, often dictates the biological function of a molecule. Pharmaceuticals often contain chiral molecules and frequently require the challenging synthesis of a single hand of the compound of interest. Transition metal catalysts are known to catalyze reactions such as the hydrogenation of alkenes to produce the desired mirror image form. The proposed research seeks to discover metal catalysts that employ earth abundant and inexpensive elements such as iron and cobalt, a key innovation in sustainable sciences and technology. The project will also allow for integration of manufacturing principles into curricula for the classroom as well as provide undergraduate and graduate students a unique experience in an industrial laboratory.