New and tandem processes in asymmetric organocatalysis

毫无疑问，世界上的资源正变得越来越稀缺，人类将不得不找到更多的方法来高效和谨慎地使用不可再生材料。除此之外，还有一个令人担忧的问题，即任何新的流程，无论多么高效或低效，都应该尽可能与环境相适应。这个项目将致力于开发符合这些价值观的化学方法，同时解决制造在医学上非常重要的有效化合物的巨大问题。催化剂的定义是“一种在不破坏自身的情况下提高反应速度的物质”。这意味着它可以少量使用，这符合更环保的方法。然而，在许多情况下，这些催化剂含有金属来协调和协调特定的反应过程，这当然有可能消耗金属储备，并将这些金属的失衡引入生态系统。因此，有机催化领域应运而生。这是一个与不依赖金属的反应催化有关的化学领域，也是本项目致力于的一个领域。有机催化在不对称合成中的具体应用受到了极大的关注。这一极其重要的化学领域源于这样一个事实，即被四个不同基团包围的碳原子可以有一个不可重叠的镜像，例如左手是右手，不对称合成试图独占地制造这两只“手”中的一只。这样做的原因是不同的手分子可以以不同的方式与生物系统相互作用(想象一下试图用你的左手与某人握手/这要困难得多！)香芹酮分子就是一个例子，它的一只手闻到了留兰薄荷的味道，但另一只手闻到了香菜籽的气味，这是因为每只手与鼻部感受器的相互作用不同。在药物化合物中，这种差异可能意味着一种化合物的活性较低，或者具有完全不同的效果。因此，显然需要能够制造单手分子，这样我们才能知道特定的生物反应是由一种特定的已知化合物发出的。这个项目将关注这一化学领域的发展，并将使对它的理解和适用性超越今天的水平。目前，有机催化反应的范围有限，本研究旨在将一系列新的反应引入化学家的工具箱。最终，这项研究将调查和建立新的化学领域，这些领域可以帮助制药和农用化学品等行业建立有效的药物和生物活性化合物的合成，同时对环境或对世界上现有但不断减少的金属供应的损害较小。

There is no doubt that the world's resources are becoming increasingly scarce and that mankind will have to find more ways of being efficient and scrupulous in its use of nonrenewable materials. In addition to this, there is the concern that any new processes, however efficient or inefficient, should be as environmentally compatible as possible. This project will be concerned with the development of chemical methodology that is compliant with these values, whilst at the same time addressing the huge issue of making potent compounds which are medicinally, very important.The definition of a catalyst is 'a substance which increases the rate of a reaction without itself being destroyed'. This means that it can be used in very small quantities, which is compliant with a more environmentally aware approach. However, in many cases these catalysts contain metals to co-ordinate and orchestrate specific reaction processes and this of course has the potential to both consume metal reserves as well as introducing an imbalance of such metals into the ecosystem. As a result, the area of organocatalysis has arisen. This is an area of chemistry concerned with the catalysis of reactions without any reliance on metals and one that this project addresses. One specific application of organocatalysis that has received much attention is its use in asymmetric synthesis. This immensely important area of chemistry stems from the fact that a carbon atom which is surrounded by four different groups, can have a non-superimposable mirror image, such as the left hand is of the right and asymmetric synthesis attempts to exclusively make one of these two 'hands'. The reason for this is that different handed molecules can interact with biological systems in different ways (imagine trying to shake someone's hand with your left hand / it's much more difficult!). An example of this is the molecule carvone, where one 'hand' smells of spearmint, but the other smells of caraway seed due to the different interaction of each 'hand' with the nasal receptors. In drug compounds, the difference can mean that one compound has a lower activity or have a completely different effect. So, clearly there is a need to be able to make molecules of one handedness, so that we know a specific biological response is given by one specific and known compound. This project will be concerned with the development of this area of chemistry and will take the understanding and applicability of it beyond today's level. Currently, there are a limited range of organocatalytic reactions and this research aims to introduce a new range of reactions to the chemist's toolbox. Ultimately, this research will investigate and establish new areas of chemistry which could help industries such as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals to establish the efficient synthesis of drugs and biologically active compounds with less detriment to the environment or to the existing, but diminishing supplies of metals in the world.