CAS: New Strategies for Sustainable Methods in Nickel-Catalyzed Coupling Reactions

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With this Award, the Chemical Synthesis Program of the NSF Division of Chemistry is supporting the research of Professor John Montgomery of the University of Michigan. Professor Montgomery works with graduate students and undergraduates to develop improved ways to conduct organic synthesis. The approaches involve identifying ways to convert simple and readily available feedstocks into high value synthetic compounds and to identify new catalysts that improve the synthetic efficiency and practicality of the synthetic methods developed. Additionally, the methods use earth abundant metals to reduce cost and minimize the formation of hazardous by-products. The synthetic improvements can be applied in a number of settings including academic labs and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, polymer, and petroleum industries. Professor Montgomery is highly committed to inclusive teaching practices and the exploration of innovative ways to integrate his research, teaching, and outreach focus within his research group. Professor Montgomery continues working with first-generation/underrepresented minority students via a class he developed. Broader societal impacts include development of outreach activities that will provide community connections that encourage young students to be confident in their ability to succeed and to consider STEM fields as they navigate their educational paths and career choices. Professor Montgomery and his students develop new nickel catalysts that enable the discovery and development of synthetic processes that provide rapid access to high-value products. The development of aryl silyl ethers and enol silanes as versatile substrates in synthesis enable novel disconnections that provide unusual and synthetically-powerful entries to high value product structures. These methods provide an important complement to the commonly employed addition of reactive organometallics to electrophilic carbonyls. An integral aspect of the research is the use of readily available, stable, and highly active nickel(0) catalysts that can be broadly applied by non-specialists in many fields of research. The methods may provide new approaches and strategies for organic synthesis that enable the rapid, efficient, selective, and cost-effective preparation of high-value structures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.