The Baylis-Hillman Reaction: Asymmetric Organocatalysis and Applications

许多药物有两个手性镜像(对映体)，其中治疗效果通常只与一个有关，而另一个没有作用或可能是有害的，沙利度胺就是这样。因此，只产生所需镜像或对映体而不产生另一种镜像的化学反应需求很大，制药、精细化工和材料行业将其作为一项前沿技术大力追求。该项目将导致开发新的催化反应，允许以许多行业所需的成本效益和绿色方式合成手性化学品，并培训具有非常理想的合成技能的学生，以引领制药和生物技术的下一波浪潮。

Many drugs come in two chiral mirror images (enantiomers) where the therapeutic effect is usually associated with only one while the other has no effect or can be harmful as was the case with thalidomide. Chemical reactions that yield just the desired mirror image, or enantiomer, and not the other are therefore in great demand and heavily pursued by the pharmaceutical, fine chemical and materials industries as a frontier technology. This project will result in the development of novel catalytic reactions that allow the synthesis of chiral chemicals in a cost-efficient and green manner needed by many industries, and also training of students with highly desirable synthetic skills to lead the next wave in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.