New Catalytic C-H Activation and Decarboxylation Chemistry for Synthesis

这项拟议的研究旨在创造使用催化剂制造分子的新方法--催化化学。催化剂是在反应中加入少量的东西，使反应速度更快，在现代化学中起着非常重要的作用。高达90%的化学生产材料在生产过程中使用了催化剂--例如，洗衣粉中的酶是一种生物催化剂，有助于分解衣服上的有机污渍。汽车中的催化转化器含有贵金属催化剂，有助于将有害的氮氧化物烟雾转化为无害的氮气。催化剂可以极大地加速化学反应，以至于一些极其缓慢的过程在催化条件下变得非常高效。挑战是将正确的催化剂与正确的化学反应相匹配。这项研究计划将着眼于通过催化来操纵碳氢键的方法。C-H键通常被认为是惰性的，是有机化学中最常见的键，在化学反应中经常是旁观者。然而，它的常见发生赋予了它作为化学操纵场所的巨大潜力--如果能找到在温和的反应条件下选择性地做到这一点的方法。我们现在已经有了使用过渡金属催化实现C-H活化的方法，我们正在寻求在简化的化学合成中利用它们的经济和环境效益。我们将应用我们发现的催化反应来制造一类被称为杂环的分子。杂环化合物在我们的社会中具有巨大的重要性：DNA、糖、蛋白质、自然分子、药物、杀虫剂和维生素只是我们生活方式所必需的杂环的一部分。因此，发现新的和改进的方法来合成新的和改进的杂环是现代化学研究的前沿。C-H活化的使用为现有杂环化合物的合成和新杂环化合物的发现提供了实质性的改进，在医学、工程和农业方面具有广泛的应用前景。

The proposed research looks to create new ways of making molecules using catalysts - catalytic chemistry. A catalyst is something added in very small amounts to a reaction that will make it faster, and they play a very important in modern chemistry. Up to 90% of chemically produced materials have used a catalyst in their production - the enzymes in washing powder are a type of biological catalyst that helps break down organic stains on clothes, for example. The catalytic converter in a car contains precious metal catalysts that help convert harmful nitrogen monoxide fumes into harmless nitrogen gas.Catalysts can dramatically accelerate chemical reactions, to the extent where some impossibly slow processes become highly efficient when performed under catalytic conditions. The challenge is matching up the right catalyst with the right chemical reaction. This research proposal will look at ways of manipulating the carbon-hydrogen bond through catalysis. The C-H bond is often thought of as inert, being the most common bond in organic chemistry and frequently a by-stander in chemical reactions. Its common occurrence, though, gives it tremendous potential as a site for chemical manipulation - if ways can be found to do this selectively under mild reaction conditions. We now have methods in place to achieve C-H activation using transition metal catalysis, and we are looking to exploit their economic and environmental benefits in streamlined chemical synthesis.We will apply the catalytic reactions we discover to make a class of molecule called heterocycles. Heterocyclic compounds have enormous importance in our society: DNA, sugars, proteins, the molecules of nature, drugs, insecticides and vitamins represent just some of the classes of heterocycle essential to the way we live our lives. As a result, the discovery of new and improved ways to synthesise new and improved heterocycles is at the forefront of modern chemistry research. The use of C-H activation offers substantial improvements to both the synthesis of existing heterocyclic compounds and the discovery of new ones, which can have wide application in medicine, engineering and agriculture.