Multiple Metal-Carbon Bonds, Metallacycles, and Catalytic Olefin Metathesis Reactions

化学合成（SYN）计划中的这一奖项支持了Richard R. Schrock在马萨诸塞州理工学院进行基于钼或钨的烯烃复分解催化剂的基础研究。 烯烃复分解是一种催化反应，它包括有机分子中碳-碳双键的断裂和重排。 2005年诺贝尔化学奖授予了施洛克、格拉布斯和肖万，这一反应对人类的益处得到了认可。 最近两年的新发展导致了新型钼和钨催化剂的出现，它们比以前的任何催化剂都更具反应性和选择性。 研究工作包括研究顺式和反式亚烷基异构体的相互转化和相对反应性，设计新的单烷氧基吡咯烷（MAP）催化剂和相关物种的路线，包括负载在二氧化硅或氧化铝上的选择性催化剂。烯烃复分解反应彻底改变了用于治疗癌症和艾滋病等疾病的天然和非天然产物的有机分子的合成，以及特殊聚合物的合成。 新开发的应用包括从可再生资源如种子油合成有机分子，以及选择性合成仅含有顺式碳-碳双键的有机分子，这是天然产物中最常见的类型，也是有机合成中最有用的类型。

This award in the Chemical Synthesis (SYN) program supports work by Professor Richard R. Schrock at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to carry out fundamental studies on olefin metathesis catalysts based on molybdenum or tungsten. Olefin metathesis is a catalytic reaction that consists of breaking and rearranging carbon-carbon double bonds in organic molecules. The benefit of the reaction to mankind was recognized through the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Schrock, Grubbs, and Chauvin. New developments in the last two years have led to new types of molybdenum and tungsten catalysts that are much more reactive and selective than any previous catalysts. The proposed work includes an investigation of the interconversion and relative reactivity of syn and anti alkylidene isomers and devising routes to new MonoAlkoxide Pyrrolide (MAP) catalysts and related species, including selective catalysts supported on silica or alumina.The olefin metathesis reaction has revolutionized the synthesis of organic molecules relevant to natural and unnatural products for treatment of diseases such as cancers and AIDS, as well as the synthesis of specialty polymers. Newly developed applications include the synthesis of organic molecules from renewable resources such as seed oils and the selective synthesis of organic molecules that contain only a cis carbon-carbon double bond, the type that is most common in natural products and the most useful in organic synthesis.