A glovebox for discovery of new metal-catalyzed methods

我们的研究计划的动机是需要更有效，选择性和环境可持续的合成方法。面对这一挑战，我们计划开发创新的方法来功能化碳氢键，使用二氧化碳作为原料，并构建含氮杂环。虽然这些重要的目标是多种多样的，但我们的研究策略保持着一个基本主题：发现新的过渡金属催化剂，以迅速将现成的试剂转化为有价值的有机产品。过渡金属配合物具有惊人的能力，可以通过传统催化剂（如质子酸或路易斯酸）无法达到的机制，在有机分子内形成、破坏和重新排列键。然而，许多活性金属配合物（及其相应的配体）也对氧气和水分高度敏感。由于对这些空气和水分敏感物种的操作对我们拟议的研究至关重要，我们需要一个惰性气氛干燥箱或“手套箱”。所要求的设备将能够在惰性气氛下合成、表征和应用各种配体和金属配合物。这项技术将有助于发现在正常大气条件下不可能发现的转化、催化剂和试剂。此外，参与该计划的研究人员将接受现代有机化学最先进技术的培训，并培养进行空气和水分敏感转化的必要技能。该设备提案将得到支持，最终将导致发现全新的化学反应性，并增强我们制造许多研究领域感兴趣的分子的能力。

Our research program is motivated by the need for synthetic methods that are more efficient, selective, and environmentally sustainable.  Towards this challenge, we plan to develop innovative ways to functionalize carbon-hydrogen bonds, use carbon dioxide as a raw material, and build nitrogen-containing heterocycles. While these important goals are diverse, our research strategy maintains an essential theme: the discovery of new transition metal-catalysts to rapidly transform readily available reagents into valuable organic products. Transition metal complexes have an amazing ability to make, break, and rearrange bonds within an organic molecule via mechanisms which cannot be accessed using more traditional catalysts (e.g. protic or Lewis acids).  However, many reactive metal-complexes (and their corresponding ligands) are also highly sensitive to oxygen and moisture.  Because manipulation of these air and moisture sensitive species is critical to our proposed research, we are requesting an inert atmosphere dry box or 'glovebox'.  The requested equipment will enable the synthesis, characterization, and application of various ligands and metal-complexes under an inert atmosphere. This technology will enable the discovery of transformations, catalysts, and reagents which would be impossible to discover under normal atmospheric conditions.  In addition, the researchers involved in this program will be trained in the most advanced techniques of modern organic chemistry and develop the necessary skills to perform air and moisture sensitive transformations.     The equipment proposal to be supported will ultimately lead to the discovery of fundamentally new chemical reactivity and enhance our ability to make molecules of interest to many fields of research.