New enantioselective catalytic synthesis of alcohols, carboxylic acids, and heterocycles

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Research in organic chemistry is a fundamental and central endeavor that impacts the many fields of science which require the design and synthesis of molecules. The advent of powerful synthetic methods will dramatically enhance our capability to discover life-saving therapeutics, invent materials with useful and unusual properties, as well as investigate biology at the molecular level. In the chemistry department at the University of Toronto, the Dong Research Group is engaged in developing innovative strategies to address modern challenges in organic synthesis. Our main approach involves harnessing the unique reactivity of transition metal-complexes to transform readily available materials into useful organic products. Some of our long-term goals include finding new ways to functionalize carbon-hydrogen bonds, used carbon-dioxide as a raw material, and construct nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Importantly, we plan to produce methods which are more selective, more efficient, and environmentally friendly compared to the state-of-the-art. Aside from the practical significance, our studies are expected to result in fundamentally interesting and novel chemical reactivity. Ultimately, we will engage in understanding the mechanism of action for these transforms, as well as applying them to make molecules of interest to natural product synthesis, materials science, and chemical biology. The graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows in our group will be trained in the art of organic synthesis and acquire the skills needed to be tomorrow's innovators in academia and the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry.