CAS: Oxidation in Fragment Coupling and Fragmentation

在化学系化学合成计划的支持下，宾夕法尼亚大学的科兹洛夫斯基教授正在开发新的方法来锻造新的碳碳键，并将聚合物废物转化为增值材料。这些活动正在帮助改进合成技术，以实现更有效和更可持续的新材料组装，优化用于选择性反应的多相催化剂，并找到聚合物废气的生产性用途。这些项目之间的联系是，正在研究的反应类型是氧化，它减少了分子中的碳氢键的数量，并以碳-碳键或碳-氧键取代它们。这项研究计划还通过使用无毒材料设计家庭有机化学实验来扩大化学教学的渠道，科兹洛夫斯基教授积极参与开发专业支持系统，以增加STEM学科的多样性。新型氧化合成方法的开发对设计环境友好的化学过程的目标做出了重要贡献。Kozlowski教授和她的研究团队正在研究用于复杂分子合成的新的氧化方法，方法是优化用于制备多芳烃的氧化苯酚偶联反应，并研究用于烷基芳烃交叉偶联的多相催化剂。更多的努力集中在开发新的仿生途径，通过光催化利用氧气来使化学废物有价化。这些研究有助于通过以下方式设计可持续的方法：1)在非功能化中心进行工程反应，从而消除对复杂的预功能化起始材料的需要；2)使用氧气作为终端氧化剂；3)使用毒性较低、价格较低的贱金属；以及4)将废物转化为有用的化学品。在这些研究中产生的化合物在制药、化学、材料科学和农业以及基础生物和化学研究工作中也是需要的。通过这些活动，科兹洛夫斯基教授和她的研究团队致力于有机化学、计算化学和材料化学的结合，为不同的博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生提供跨学科培训。该奖项反映了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。

With the support of the Chemical Synthesis Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Kozlowski of the University of Pennsylvania is developing novel methods to forge new carbon-carbon bonds, the currency of organic chemistry, and to convert polymer waste products into value-added materials. These activities are helping to improve synthetic technology towards the more efficient and sustainable assembly of new materials, optimize heterogeneous catalysts for selective reactions, and find productive uses for polymer waste streams. The link between these projects is that the types of reactions being studied are oxidations, which reduce the number of carbon-hydrogen bonds in a molecule and replace them with carbon-carbon or carbon-oxygen bonds. This research program is also creating expanded access to chemistry instruction through the design of at-home organic chemistry experiments using non-toxic materials and Professor Kozlowski is actively involved in developing professional support systems for increasing diversity in STEM disciplines.The development of novel oxidative synthetic methods are important contributions to the goal of designing environmentally benign chemical processes. Professor Kozlowski and her research team are investigating new oxidative methods for complex molecule synthesis by optimizing oxidative phenol couplings for the preparation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and studying heterogeneous catalysts for alkylarene cross coupling. Additional efforts are focused on developing new biomimetic pathways for the valorization of chemical waste with the photocatalytic use of oxygen. These studies are contributing to the goal of designing sustainable methods by: 1) engineering reactions at non-functionalized centers, thereby eliminating the need for complex pre-functionalized starting materials, 2) using oxygen as the terminal oxidizing agent, 3) using less toxic and less expensive base metals, and 4) converting waste materials to useful chemicals. The compounds being generated in these studies are also needed in the pharmaceutical, chemical, materials science, and agricultural industries as well as in basic biological and chemical research endeavors. Through these activities, Professor Kozlowski and her research team are working at the interface of organic, computational, and materials chemistry, which provides interdisciplinary training for a diverse group of postdoctoral researchers, graduate, and undergraduate students.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.