CAS: Organocatalysts: Acids and Bases

在这个由化学系化学结构、动力学和机制B项目资助的项目中，明尼苏达大学双城分校化学系的Steven R.Kass教授正在开发一种增强有机催化剂活性的新策略。催化剂通常是含有金属的化合物，通过降低活化势垒来加速化学反应的种子。有机催化剂非常新颖，因为与绝大多数有用的金属催化剂不同，它们只依赖碳、氢和少数其他非金属元素。有机催化剂通常被认为比金属催化剂更可持续，因为它们不需要昂贵、有毒或贵金属。这项研究的最终目标是开发新的、有用的、对环境友好的有机催化剂，并更好地了解这些物种的运作方式。该项目位于有机化学、物理化学和分析化学的交界处，特别适合于教育和培训年轻科学家。这项研究将与NSF资助的本科生研究经历网站一起进行。这项研究的专利将与工业合作伙伴一起探索。充电增强型酸、碱和氢键催化剂将被制备和表征。它们的催化能力将在各种有机转化中得到检验，结构变化将被探索以提高它们的反应活性和选择性。例如，反离子的共价掺入或手性反阴离子的使用对有机转化有什么影响？将探索不同的手性平台，并将其结合到二茂铁和钴镉离子中，部分原因是为了获得对催化剂酸性的时间控制。这些物种具有相当大的实用潜力，这项研究将促进化学知识的发展，同时也导致可能有利于环境、人类健康和化学工业的发展。这个研究项目从实验到理论，从综合方法论到物理和分析测量。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In this project funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms B Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Steven R. Kass of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities is developing a new strategy for enhancing the activity of organocatalysts. Catalysts are generally metal-containing compounds that accelerate the seed of a chemical reaction by lowering the activation barrier. Organocatalysts are quite novel because, unlike the great majority of useful metal-based catalysts, they rely only on carbon, hydrogen and a handful of other elements that are not metals. Organocatalysts are often considered more sustainable than metal-based catalysts because they do not require expensive, toxic, or precious metals. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop new and useful organocatalysts that are environmentally friendly, and to obtain a better understanding of how these species operate. This project lies at the interface of organic, physical, and analytical chemistry, and is particularly well suited for educating and training young scientists. This research will be conducted alongside an NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduate site. Patents from the research will be explored along with industrial partnerships.Charge-enhanced acids, bases, and hydrogen bond catalysts will be prepared and characterized. Their catalytic abilities will be examined in a variety of organic transformations, and structural variations will be probed to increase their reactivity and selectivity. For example, what impact does covalent incorporation of the counterion or the use of a chiral counter-anion have on organic transformations? Different chiral platforms will be explored and incorporated into ferrocenium and cobaltocenium ions, in part, to obtain temporal control of the catalyst's acidity. These species have considerable practical potential, and this research will advance the state of chemical knowledge while also leading to developments that may benefit the environment, human health, and chemical industry. This research program spans from experiment to theory and from synthetic methodology to physical and analytical measurements. It serves, consequently as an excellent training ground for young scientists.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.