CAS: Sustainable Technologies for Building Molecules: Cobalt, Nickel, and Copper Catalysis

通过这一奖项，美国国家科学基金会化学部的化学催化计划支持了加州大学欧文分校化学系的Vy M.董教授的研究。寻找构建有机分子的新方法是一个重要的研究领域，它影响着许多其他科学学科的发展，如重要治疗剂的发现、新材料的发明和替代能源的寻找。董教授的研究团队致力于发明更好的催化工具，利用富含地球的金属催化剂构建有机分子。追求这些目标的学生正在接受培训，成为分子架构师，对如何使用新的过渡金属催化过程连接分子片段有深刻的理解。他们将进入劳动力大军，有能力设计新的可持续转变，并制备具有有价值特征的分子。此外，董教授和她的学生正在通过在圣安娜接触拉美裔学生的外联努力，为当地化学领域的女性举办研讨会，以及基于社交媒体的活动，展示来自不同背景的科学家，扩大代表不足的少数族裔和女性的参与。董教授的实验室的动机是(1)对新反应的根本兴趣，(2)对更高效和环境友好型技术的实际需求。在这个项目的核心，她的团队正在寻找从可持续和富含地球的元素中提取的催化剂。董教授和她的学生正在通过催化解决有机合成中的三个现代挑战。首先，他们正在发明一种方法，使用从铜或镍衍生的催化剂来交叉偶联迈克尔受体。这种级联方法提供了获得具有高立体控制性的季碳中心的途径，提供了一种构筑酰胺键的新方法，并拓宽了氢芳化反应的范围。其次，他们正在研究一种脱氢氨基酸/催化还原方法来制造环肽。两种天然产品(Mahafacyline-和白藜芦素)正被用于测试这些策略，以获得这些重要的目标。最后，正在开发一种钴催化的转移氢甲酰化反应，以提供一种广泛适用的策略，通过一碳脱氢将醛(或醇)转化为烯烃。这些活动侧重于为有机合成设计新的催化工具，正在推动许多需要设计和构建功能分子的科学领域，从药物化学到聚合物科学。追求这些目标是为了促进实用工具的获得，同时促进我们关于化学反应性和选择性的基本知识。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With this award, the Chemical Catalysis Program of the NSF Division of Chemistry is supporting the research of Professor Vy M. Dong of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. The pursuit of new ways to construct organic molecules is an essential field of research that impacts many other scientific disciplines such as the development discovery of important therapeutic agents, the invention of novel materials, and the search for alternative energies. Professor Dong’s research team is committed to inventing better catalytic tools for building organic molecules using earth-abundant metal catalysts. Students pursuing these aims are training to be molecular architects with a deep understanding of how to connect molecular fragments using new transition metal-catalyzed processes. They will enter the work force with the ability to design new sustainable transformations and to prepare molecules with valuable characteristics. In addition, Professor Dong and her students are broadening the participation of underrepresented minorities and women through outreach efforts to engage Hispanic students in Santa Ana, a symposium for local women in chemistry, and social media-based activities to showcase scientists from diverse backgrounds.Professor Dong’s laboratory is motivated by (1) a fundamental interest in new reactivity and (2) a practical need for more efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies. At the heart of this program, her team is pursuing the discovery of catalysts that are derived from sustainable and earth-abundant elements. Professor Dong and her students are addressing three modern challenges in organic synthesis through catalysis. First, they are inventing a method for cross-coupling Michael acceptors using catalysts derived from copper or nickel. This cascade approach provides access to quaternary carbon centers with high stereocontrol, offers a novel way to construct amide linkages, and widens the scope of hydroarylation. Second, they are investigating a dehydroamino acid/catalytic reduction approach to making cyclic peptides. Two natural products (mahafacylcine -and beauvericin) are being used to test these strategies to access these important targets. Finally, a cobalt-catalyzed transfer hydroformylation is being developed to provide a broadly applicable strategy for transforming aldehydes (or alcohols) to olefins via a one-carbon dehomologation. These activities focused on designing new catalytic tools for organic synthesis are advancing the many fields of science that require the design and construction of functional molecules, from medicinal chemistry to polymer science. The pursuit of these aims is facilitating access to practical tools, while advancing our fundamental knowledge on chemical reactivity and selectivity.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.