LX ligands in transition metal catalysis

在全球范围内，化学制造业是一个年产值达万亿美元的产业。2001年化工产品出口额达90亿美元，是加拿大经济的主要推动力。大约90%的化学过程是通过催化实现的，这是保持我们经济竞争力的一个主要因素。催化也是一种固有的“绿色”现象，因此，通过提高能源效率和原子效率，在减少化学制造过程对环境的影响方面发挥着重要作用。拟议的研究旨在利用卡纳塔化学技术公司（KCT）的研究人员和渥太华大学Keith Fagnou博士的研究小组的专业知识，探索KCT正在研究的一种重要类型的催化剂在加氢过程中的催化反应性。这些催化剂尚未开发的潜力是巨大的，并且可能在广泛的催化过程中产生影响。我们打算探索和绘制这种反应性，以扩大催化过程的范围，并更多地了解催化剂本身。我们选择了两个重要的反应类别来验证这些配体和催化剂。首先，我们将研究这些催化剂在直接不对称亲核加成中的适用性。亲核加成/取代反应在有机合成中普遍存在，但通常需要使用化学计量活化剂，如Bronsted碱。因此，这种追求的成功对于有效合成与制药部门新药物化合物制备相关的有机分子具有广泛的意义。第二类反应是钯催化的交叉偶联反应。当需要合成联芳基或芳胺化合物时，制药和精细化学工业通常采用这些反应。最近的机制发展表明，在这些过程中使用lx型配体可能提供增强的反应性。

Chemical manufacturing is a trillion-dollar a year industry on a global basis. At $9B US in chemical exports (2001), it is also a major driver of the Canadian economy. Some 90% of all chemical processes are enabled by catalysis, and this is a major factor in maintaining our economic competitiveness. Catalysis is also an inherently "green" phenomenon, and as such plays a major role in reducing the environmental impact of chemical manufacturing processes, by improving both energy-efficiency and atom-efficiency. The proposed research aims to capitalize on the expertise of researchers at Kanata Chemical Technologies Inc. (KCT) and the research group of Dr. Keith Fagnou at the University of Ottawa to explore the catalytic reactivity of an important type of catalyst that is under investigation at KCT for hydrogenation processes.  The untapped potential of these catalysts is enormous, and may have implications in a wide range of catalytic processes.  We intend to explore and map out this reactivity to both expand the reach of catalytic processes and to learn more about the catalysts themselves.  We have selected two important reaction classes to validate these ligands and catalysts with.  First we will examine the applicability of these catalysts in direct asymmetric nucleophilic additions.  Nucleophilic addition/substitution reactions are ubiquitous in organic synthesis, but commonly require the use of a stoichiometric activating agent such as a Bronsted base.  Success in this pursuit should therefore have broad significance in the efficient synthesis of organic molecules pertinant to the preparation of new medicinal compounds in the pharmaceutical sector.  The second reaction class are the palladium catalyzed cross coupling reactions.  These reactions have been generally adopted by pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries when the synthesis of biaryl or arylamine compounds is required.  The use of LX-type ligands in these processes may offer enhanced reactivity as indicated by recent mechanistic developments.