New Horizons in Catalytic Reactions involving Late Transition Metals

催化剂是一种促进反应但不被反应消耗的物质。通常，催化反应涉及若干个单独的步骤，这些步骤统称为催化循环。在许多情况下，催化的反应在没有催化剂的情况下不会发生。此外，催化剂通常可以非常少量地使用;这降低了工艺的总成本。因此，催化剂对其他类型的反应具有相当大的优势。 过渡金属催化剂越来越多地用于药物的工业合成（例如，降低胆固醇的重磅炸弹药物立普妥），材料（例如，聚乙烯，一种无处不在的塑料）和精细化学品（用于生产药物和材料）。尽管过渡金属催化剂的重要性显而易见，但控制催化剂活性的因素和催化反应的各个步骤通常知之甚少。我的研究计划的主要目标是探索过渡金属配合物的化学反应性。这些知识对于设计高效和产生最少化学废物的化学过程至关重要-这是催化研究的两个关键目标，对开发安全和可持续的化学过程具有广泛意义。我们预计这些研究将改善重要的催化反应。我们还预计，这项工作将揭示新的知识，我们（和其他人）可以用来开发从根本上新的，多功能的催化反应。为了实现这些长期目标，我们将合成和分离许多含金属的化合物。我们使用广泛的分析技术来确定这些新化合物的结构。然后，我们探索它们的反应性，并研究它们形成的机制。这些反应用于设计重要生物活性化合物的改进路线。这个独特的研究计划跨越了有机和无机化学的界限，并为各级HQP提供了出色的培训。

A catalyst is a substance that promotes reactions, but is not consumed by the reaction. Typically, a catalytic reaction involves several individual steps that collectively are called a catalytic cycle. In many cases, reactions that are catalyzed would not occur in the absence of the catalyst. In addition, catalysts can often be used in very small amounts; this lowers the overall cost of a process. As such, catalysts have considerable advantages to other types of reactions. Transition metal catalysts are increasingly used in the industrial synthesis of pharmaceuticals (e.g., the cholesterol-lowering blockbuster drug Lipitor), materials (e.g., polyethylene, a ubiquitous plastic) and fine chemicals (used in the generation of pharmaceuticals and materials). Despite the obvious importance of transition metal catalysts, the factors that control catalyst activity and the individual steps of a catalytic reaction are often poorly understood. The main goal of my research program is to probe the chemical reactivity of transition metal complexes. This knowledge is essential for the design of chemical processes that are highly efficient and generate minimal chemical waste - two key goals in catalysis research that have widespread significance for the development of safe and sustainable chemical processes. We anticipate that these studies will improve important catalytic reactions. We also anticipate that this work will reveal new knowledge that we (and others) can use to develop fundamentally new, versatile catalytic reactions. To achieve these long-term goals, we will synthesize and isolate numerous metal-containing compounds. We use a wide range of analytical techniques to determine the structures of these new compounds. We then explore their reactivity and study the mechanism in which they are formed. These reactions are used to design improved routes to important bioactive compounds. This unique research program spans the boundaries of organic and inorganic chemistry, and provides excellent training for HQP at all levels.