The (4+1)-cycloaddition of electron-rich carbenes / la cycloaddition-(4+1) de carbènes riches en électrons

几年前我们发现了一种新的化学反应。我们现在正努力优化它的产率，并扩大它的范围，希望使它成为一种有用和珍贵的反应。这个反应一步就把一个由高活性的供体端（碳烯）和受体端（二烯）组成的分子转变成一个更复杂的结构，包括环和立体化学中心（3-D）。它有可能帮助我们构建复杂的自然和非自然分子，这些分子可能成为明天的药物。我们有证据表明，反应通过一种反应机制进行，这种反应机制应该允许我们一致地预测最终产物的三维结构（协同机制）。因此，我们相信，更深入地研究反应机理将使我们更好地了解如何增加相容底物的数量。我们计划这样做，然后将新方法应用于几种天然产物的合成，以测试其能力和可行性。

We discovered a new chemical reaction a few years ago. We are now striving to optimize its yields and to widen its scope in the hope of making it a useful and prized reaction. The reaction transforms, in one step, a molecule, that consists of one highly reactive donor end (the carbene) and an acceptor end (the diene), into a more complex structure that includes rings and stereochemical (3-D) centers. It has the potential to help us build complex natural and unnatural molecules that could be tommorow's medicines. We have evidence that the reaction proceeds through a reaction mechanism that should allow us to predict the 3-D structure of the end product consistantly (a concerted mechanism). For that reason, we believe that studying in more depth the mechanism of the reaction will allow us to better understand how to augment the number of compatible substrates. We plan to do so and to then apply the new methodology to the synthesis of several natural products, in order to test its power and viability.