BIOMIMETIC CATALYSIS THROUGH MOLECULAR RECOGNITION

目前的工作将开发几个新的仿生催化系统。 统一的主题是分子识别，使用一种强大的、通用的 我们开发的一类手性受体。这些主机是 它们结合和定向有机分子的能力是无与伦比的。我们现在 希望将这些结构开发成有用的催化剂，我们将继续 两种不同的策略。首先，我们将使用固有的绑定能力 以电子方式束缚过渡态，从而 加速有机反应。我们已经看到了非常令人鼓舞的情况 这一领域的初步结果表明对自然界有了新的见解 可获得生物催化活性的最大值。第二，我们将把我们的主机修改为 将活性过渡金属作为 受体，从而在结合部位产生收敛的官能团。 我们已经瞄准了几种反应类型，我们将继续研究催化 提高速度，特别是立体化学控制。我们的目标是 开发能够接受多种底物的真正催化系统 这就强制实施了实质性的立体化学控制。在以下任何一项中取得成功 我们的目标系统将构成生物有机的重大进步 和合成有机化学。

The present work will develop several new biomimetic, catalytic systems. The unifying theme is molecular recognition, using a powerful, general class of chiral receptors that we have developed. These hosts are unsurpassed in their ability to bind and orient organic molecules. We now wish to develop these structures into useful catalysts, and we will pursue two different strategies. First, we will use the inherent binding ability of our hosts to electronically bind transition states, and thereby accelerate organic reactions. We have already seen very encouraging preliminary results in this area that suggest new insights into the nature of biological catalysis may be gained. Second, we will modify our hosts to incorporate reactive transition metals as an intrinsic part of the receptor, thereby creating convergent functionality at the binding site. We have targeted several reaction types, and we will be pursuing catalytic rate enhancements and, especially, stereochemical control. Our goal is to develop truly catalytic systems that can accept a broad range of substrates and that enforce substantial stereochemical control. Success in any one of our target systems would constitute a significant advance for bioorganic and synthetic organic chemistry.