Stereoselective organo-metal catalysis for the synthesis of value-added products

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The ability of chemists to invent new transformations is at heart of our modern society, as novel chemical methods to forge bonds with increased precision and selectivity enable more efficient preparation of materials, medicines, agrochemicals and fine chemicals. Catalysis is a powerful tool to devise new reactions and render the existing ones more selective, thus contributing to a more sustainable use of natural resources. In this context, the present PhD project merges in original ways elements taken from both organo- and transition-metal catalysis, to open new paths for stereoselective reactions of unsaturated feedstock substrates and for sustainable synthesis oriented to medicinally relevant scaffolds.The PhD student will design and prepare novel organocatalysts capable of engaging with common metal halide (pre)catalysts via non-covalent interactions. These binary catalytic systems will then be employed in a large variety of reactions to achieve increased rate, unusual regio- and stereoselectivity and/or unprecedented levels of enantiocontrol starting from minimally functionalised, electronically unbiased substrates.