New Multifunctional Catalysts for Asymmetric Phospho-Transfer

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The development of new catalysts continues to be driven by the need for ever more efficient, cost-effective and selective processes. We are interested in in a particular type of process called phospho-transfer, an extremely broad class of transformation that can be used to make drug molecules, new materials and polymers; indeed, phospho-transfer processes are fundamental to the way our bodies work. This project concerns the development of more efficient and effective catalysts for one powerful example of phospho-transfer, the phospho-aldol (PA) reaction. This process is arguably the most versatile and direct route to phosphorus-containing chemicals such as enzyme inhibitors, antibiotics and antivirals. Within each application, it is the detailed shape of the phosphorus molecule that is crucial in eliciting the required properties.Several teams are developing catalysts which can control the phospho-aldol reaction such that only one shape of product molecule will result. However, significant problems still remain chief amongst which is the fact that no catalyst system been developed which is both highly effective and shape selective but which is capable of working at room temperature in the presence of air and water. Our objectives here build upon our recent discovery of new catalysts which operate at room temperature in the presence of air and water. The key to future exploitation of these new catalysts is to be able to control the shape of the phosphorus products a little better and it is this that we aim to achieve through a combination of computer-aided modelling and synthetic chemistry.