NEXT GENERATION RUTHENIUM-CATALYSTS FOR LATE STAGE C-H FUNCTIONALISATION

催化C-H官能化是一个新兴的研究领域，有可能彻底改变化学家制造分子的方式。这些新的合成工具旨在将有机分子中的任何C-H键完全控制地转化为任何其他功能，就像使用塑料球和棍子构建分子模型一样。拥有一整套催化剂来对任何可能的分子进行任何所需的修饰是该领域的最终目标。这将为分子科学打开一个新的曙光，通过允许直接制备大多数分子，从而加速药物，传感器，农用化学品和有机材料以及分子生物学的发展（和化学生物学），有助于增加我们对分子水平上生物相互作用的理解。为了达到这一目标，我们需要开发新的催化剂和策略，以允许从分子中存在的许多其他键中选择和区分特定的C-H键。然后需要断开选定的绑定（“激活”）并安装不同的组。此外，催化剂需要是温和的和化学选择性的，这意味着它们不应该影响分子的任何其他部分作为副作用。这是一项特别具有挑战性的工作，因为C-H键通常比分子中的许多常见官能团强得多。我们的研究将探索一系列基于钌的强大催化剂的创造，这些催化剂可以以极高的选择性进行C-H活化，允许复杂分子中的一个C-H键转化而不影响分子的任何其他部分。虽然大多数常见的催化剂需要高温，但这些催化剂将在室温下工作，不仅有利于它们在精细分子上的使用，还可以节省能源。这些催化剂将有助于从头开始合成新分子。更重要的是，这些催化剂将允许复杂的已知分子以受控的方式（后期功能化）转化为新的分子，例如允许对现有药物进行简单的修饰，以调节其活性，毒性，副作用等。

Catalytic C-H functionalisation is an emerging area of research that has the potential for revolutionising the way chemists make molecules. These new synthetic tools aim at transforming any C-H bond in an organic molecule into any other functionality with complete control, much like one builds models of molecules using plastic balls and sticks. Having a full set of catalysts to perform any desirable modifications in any conceivable molecule is the ultimate aim of the field. This would open a new dawn for molecular sciences, by allowing the straightforward preparation of most molecules, thus accelerating development of pharmaceuticals, sensors, agrochemicals, and organic materials, as well as molecular biology (and chemical biology), contributing to increasing our understanding of biological interactions at the molecular level.In order to reach this objective, we need to develop novel catalysts and strategies that allow selecting and distinguishing a particular C-H bond from the many others present in a molecule. The selected bond then needs to be broken ('activated') and a different group installed. Furthermore, the catalysts need to be mild and chemoselective, which means that they should not affect any other sections of the molecule as side effects. This is particularly challenging, as C-H bonds are generally much stronger than many common functional groups in molecules.Our research will investigate the creation of a set of powerful catalysts, based on ruthenium, which can carry out C-H activation with exquisite selectivity, allowing the transformation of one C-H bond in a complex molecule without affecting any other parts of the molecule. While most common catalysts require high temperatures, these catalysts will operate at room temperature, not only facilitating their use on delicate molecules but also providing energy savings. These catalysts will be useful to synthesise new molecules from scratch. Even more importantly, these catalysts will allow the transformation of complex known molecules into new ones in a controlled way (late stage functionalisation), allowing for example the easy modification of current pharmaceuticals in order to modulate their activity, toxicity, side effects...