Practical and Powerful Synthetic Organic Methods Using Silanes

合成有机化学使人们能够获得影响生活方方面面的重要和有用的分子。这些分子可能是以前已知的(例如，几乎没有生物活性的天然产物)，也可能是未知的(例如，为有趣的新材料定制的单体)，但在任何一种情况下，化学家都必须有足够的工具包来工作，以便能够产生感兴趣的分子，以便进一步应用或研究。 涉及有机分子的化学反应需要使用试剂和/或催化剂来实现这些转化。目前，这些合成工具中最强大的含有过渡金属；虽然效率很高，但这些方法有明显的缺点，如成本、实用性、毒性和/或对环境的重大影响。 含有硅的有机硅烷有机分子缺乏过渡金属有机金属化合物的许多不受欢迎的属性：硅天然丰富，因此价格低廉，通常无毒，易于操作，并以各种功能形式随时可用。然而，由于缺乏功能和实用的试剂和/或催化剂的开发，它们在有机合成中的应用受到限制。 目前对合成有用的有机硅烷的选择在实用性上是有限的。对于原子转移反应，较温和的试剂，如三烷基硅烷需要强烈的活化，而较活跃的试剂，如三烷氧基或三卤代硅烷，操作起来困难和/或危险。除了极少数高活性的路易斯酸外，目前还没有硅基催化剂。 这项提议寻求开发新型硅烷作为有机合成的尖端工具。我们提出，释放有机硅烷作为有机合成中不可缺少的高功能工具的潜力的关键是利用稳定和亚稳定的超配位硅烷的力量，我们将通过提案中详细介绍的项目来探索这一想法。 正在开发的合成工具将具有很高的价值，使人们能够更容易地接触到重要的分子，这些分子不仅影响化学研究，还影响邻近的领域，如生物化学、生物和材料。此外，这项工作将不仅扩展到一项单一的技术，而且将显著成熟合成化学中的一个重要分支领域，即使用硅烷作为强大、可获得、廉价、易于操作和易于控制的有机试剂和催化剂。我们的实验室将继续探索这一总体想法，以揭示新的反应模式，并激励其他人追求这些未得到充分利用的分子。

Synthetic organic chemistry enables access to important and useful molecules that affect all aspects of life. These molecules may be previously known (e.g. a scarcely available biologically active natural product) or unknown (e.g. a bespoke monomer for an interesting new material), but in either case the chemist must have a sufficient toolkit with which to work to be able to generate the molecule of interest for further application or study. Chemical reactions involving organic molecules require the use of reagents and/or catalysts to enable these transformations. Currently the most powerful of these synthetic tools contain transition metals; while efficient, such methods have significant drawbacks such as cost, practicality, toxicity, and/or significant environmental impact. Organosilanes organic molecules containing silicon lack many of the undesirable attributes of transition-metal-containing organometallic compounds: silicon is naturally abundant and thus inexpensive, generally non-toxic and easy to work with, and readily available in a variety of functional forms. Yet their use for organic synthesis is limited due to a lack of development of functional and practical reagents and/or catalysts. The current selection of synthetically useful organosilanes are limited in utility. For atom-transfer reactions, milder reagents such as trialkylsilanes require forceful activation, and more reactive ones such as trialkoxy- or trihalosilanes are difficult and/or hazardous to handle. Beyond a very few highly reactive Lewis acids, there are no existing silicon-based catalysts. This proposal seeks to develop novel silanes as cutting edge tools for organic synthesis. We propose that the key to unlocking the potential of organosilanes as highly functional indispensable tools in organic synthesis is to harness the power of stable and meta-stable hypercoordinate silanes, and we will explore this idea through the projects detailed in the proposal. The synthetic tools being developed will be of high value, allowing more ready access to important molecules that impact not only chemical studies but also adjoining fields such as biochemistry, biology, and materials. Furthermore, this work will expand on not just a singular technology, but significantly mature a vital subfield within synthetic chemistry, namely the use of silanes as powerful, accessible, cheaply available, easy-to-handle, and readily controlled organic reagents and catalysts. This general idea will continue to be explored in our lab to reveal new modes of reactivity and inspire others to pursue these underutilized molecules.