Increasing the Efficiency of Chemical Synthesis Using Asymmetric Transition Metal Catalysis

各种形状和大小的有机分子在许多环境中的多种应用中都需要，例如在生物医学、制药和农化工业中，仅举几例。为了满足这一需求，有机合成面临着以尽可能快速、高效和经济的方式将简单的、容易获得的化学构件转化为更复杂的结构的挑战。因此，提高有机合成的效率为社会、生活质量和可持续的未来带来了巨大的好处。在此背景下，利用催化来促进化学反应将起到至关重要的作用。添加少量催化剂以打开、加速和完全控制复杂的化学过程的结果，为提高有机合成的效率提供了无与伦比的机会。在现有的催化剂中，基于过渡金属的催化剂特别有价值，原因如下：1.过渡金属催化的反应通常在非常温和的条件下进行。过渡金属表现出广泛的不同行为，使它们可以用于非常不同的反应范围。简单地用一种过渡金属催化剂替换另一种可以完全改变一个过程的进程，使一系列强大的互补反应得以发展。过渡金属催化剂通常由一种名为配体的有机分子与金属盐结合而成。这种配体从根本上改变了催化剂的空间和电子特性，最终影响了化学行为。简单地用一个配体替换另一个配体就可以完全改变化学反应的结果，使化学家能够微调催化剂以适应目的。在这个建议中，我们概述了通过过渡金属催化的各种反应来制备有用的化学构件的新策略。反应的一个重要特征是，催化剂将控制产物的哪种特定对映体(不可重叠镜像)的形成。这方面是至关重要的，因为功能分子(如药物)的不同对映体通常表现出不同的行为。在这项研究的过程中，我们希望能够建立一些概念，这些概念可以应用于最初意想不到的环境中，最终为有机合成和社会做出积极贡献。

Organic molecules of all shapes and sizes are required for a multitude of applications in numerous settings, such as in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical industries, to name but a few. To meet this demand, organic synthesis is faced with the challenge of converting simple, readily available chemical building blocks into more complex structures in as rapid, efficient, and cost-effective a manner as possible. As such, increasing the efficiency of organic synthesis provides enormous benefits to society, quality of life, and a sustainable future. In this context, the use of catalysis to promote chemical reactions will play a vital role. The addition of small quantities of a catalyst to open up, accelerate, and fully control the outcome of complex chemical processes offers unparalleled opportunities for increasing the efficiency of organic synthesis. Of the catalysts available, those based upon transition metals are particularly valuable for the following reasons:1. Reactions catalysed by transition metals often proceed under very mild conditions.2. Transition metals exhibit a broad range of different behaviours, allowing their use in a tremendously diverse range of reactions. Simply replacing one transition metal catalyst with another can completely alter the course of a process, enabling a suite of powerful, complementary reactions to be developed.3. Transition metal-based catalysts are often comprised of an organic molecule called a ligand bound to a metal salt. This ligand fundamentally alters the steric and electronic characteristics of that catalyst, ultimately impacting chemical behaviour. Simply replacing one ligand with another can completely alter the outcome of a chemical reaction, allowing chemists to fine tune a catalyst to fit the purpose.In this proposal, we outline novel strategies to prepare useful chemical building blocks through a variety of reactions catalysed by transition metals. An important feature of the reactions is that the catalyst will control which particular enantiomer (non-superimposable mirror image) of the product is formed. This aspect is vital since different enantiomers of functional molecules (such as drugs) often display different behaviours. During the course of this research, we hope to be able to establish concepts that can be applied in initially unanticipated contexts, ultimately providing positive contributions to organic synthesis and society.