Metal-free methods for the reduction of organic compounds

所有主要的化学品制造商，包括制药、商品化学品和农用化学品部门，都将还原化学作为其合成技术的一部分。该反应通常以两种方式之一完成，要么使用昂贵的过渡金属催化剂(例如，基于钯或铑)和氢气，要么使用化学计量的主族金属氢化物，如铝或硼的氢化物。在前一种情况下，尽管金属催化剂很昂贵，但将其从最终产品中移除往往比购买金属本身的成本更高。在后一种情况下，安全问题阻碍了某些金属氢化物在大规模反应中的使用。此外，这些反应还会产生大量的废物。我们已经提出了一种替代策略，其中包括使用有机催化剂来进行这一反应，这将：提高安全性，减少浪费，提高效率。这一提议是基于受挫的刘易斯对化学的新概念，仅在四年前首次描述。在这种方法中，酸和碱被空间体积阻止反应在一起，而是协同作用激活其他小分子，使它们的酸性和碱性得以熄灭。该项目将在女王大学和多伦多大学合作进行。行业合作者来自多伦多的Piramal，这是一家在加拿大拥有重要研究机构的国际公司，专门从事定制合成。我们的另一个支持组织是世界上最大的化工公司巴斯夫。巴斯夫对硼化学非常感兴趣，并有一个专门从事这一领域的部门。因此，他们在这个项目中是一个强有力的合作者。我们在巴斯夫的联系人卡尔·马托斯博士是硼化学方面的专家，也是作为本工作基础的一些文献的主要作者之一。参与这项工作的学生将获得独特的催化、有机化学和无机化学教育。在项目期间，他们将与这两个组织进行重大互动。

All of the key chemical manufacturers, including the pharmaceutical, commodity chemical and agrochemical sectors, use reduction chemistry as part of their synthetic repertoire. This reaction is typically accomplished in one of two ways, either employing expensive transition metal catalysts (for example based on palladium or rhodium) and hydrogen gas, or using stoichiometric amounts of main group metal hydrides such as those of aluminum or boron. In the former case, although the metal catalyst is expensive, its removal from the final product is often more costly than the purchase of the metal itself. In the latter case, safety concerns hamper the use of certain metal hydrides in large scale reactions. In addition, these reactions lead to the production of large quantities of waste. We have proposed an alternative strategy which involves the use of an organic catalyst for this reaction which will: improve safety, reduce waste, and increase efficiency. This proposal is based on the novel concept of Frustrated Lewis Pair chemistry, described for the first time only four years ago. In this approach, an acid and a base are prevented from reacting together by steric bulk, and instead cooperate to activate other small molecules that permit their acidity and basicity to be quenched. The project will be carried out collaboratively at Queen's University and the University of Toronto. Industrial collaborators are from Piramal in Toronto, which is an international company with a significant research presence in Canada specializing in custom synthesis. Our other supporting organization is BASF, the largest chemical company in the world. BASF has a significant interest in boron chemistry and has a division specializing in this area. As such, they are a strong collaborator in this project. Our contact person at BASF, Dr. Karl Matos, is a specialist in boron chemistry, and was one of the primary authors on some of the literature used as the basis for this work. The students involved in this work will obtain a unique education in catalysis, organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry. They will have significant interactions with the two organizations during the project.