GOALI: SusChEM: An industrial-academic collaboration for high throughput discovery of base metal catalysts

在这项由化学系化学催化计划资助的GOALI项目中，普林斯顿大学的Paul Chirik教授将与默克的马特·塔吉博士和他的同事们通力合作，开发用于药物发现和生产的贱金属催化剂。这项研究的重点是不对称烯烃加氢反应，这是合成具有生物活性的单一对映体有机分子的关键转化。与默克公司的科学家合作，高通量实验将被用于鉴定表现出高催化活性和对映体选择性的金属-配体组合。一旦确定了合适的催化剂，普林斯顿小组将独立合成和分离这些化合物，并通过光谱、磁学、结构和计算研究相结合的方式阐明它们的电子结构。这项研究的更广泛影响将包括本科生和研究生接触到位于新泽西州拉赫韦的默克研究基地的工业研究环境。手性，即分子的手性，通常决定着分子的生物功能。药物通常含有手性分子，并且经常需要具有挑战性的单手合成感兴趣的化合物。众所周知，过渡金属催化剂可以催化反应，如烯烃的加氢反应，以产生所需的镜像形式。这项拟议的研究旨在发现使用地球上丰富而廉价的元素(如铁和钴)的金属催化剂，这是可持续科学和技术的关键创新。该项目还将允许将制造原理融入课堂课程，并为本科生和研究生提供在工业实验室的独特体验。

In this Grant Opportunities for Academic Liasons with Industry (GOALI) project funded by the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Paul Chirik of Princeton University in full collaboration with Dr. Matt Tudge and his colleagues at Merck will develop base metal catalysts for drug discovery and production. The proposed research focuses on the asymmetric olefin hydrogenation reaction, a key transformation for the synthesis of single enantiomer organic molecules with biological activity. In collaboration with scientists at Merck, high throughput experimentation will be employed to identify metal-ligand combinations that exhibit high catalytic activity and enantioselectivity. Once suitable catalysts are identified, the Princeton group will independently synthesize and isolate these compounds and elucidate their electronic structure through a combination of spectroscopic, magnetic, structural and computational studies. The broader impacts of this research will include the exposure of undergraduate and graduate students to an industrial research setting at the Merck research site in Rahway, NJ. Chirality, the handedness of a molecule, often dictates the biological function of a molecule. Pharmaceuticals often contain chiral molecules and frequently require the challenging synthesis of a single hand of the compound of interest. Transition metal catalysts are known to catalyze reactions such as the hydrogenation of alkenes to produce the desired mirror image form. The proposed research seeks to discover metal catalysts that employ earth abundant and inexpensive elements such as iron and cobalt, a key innovation in sustainable sciences and technology. The project will also allow for integration of manufacturing principles into curricula for the classroom as well as provide undergraduate and graduate students a unique experience in an industrial laboratory.