Amphoteric Molecules: from Reaction Discovery to Applications in Synthesis

我们的研究方向是两性试剂的开发和合成应用。作为我们工作的一部分，我们将研究包含亲核和亲电反应中心反直觉组合的分子的化学性质。由“强制正交性”产生的双功能性质使两性分子能够参与高原子经济性和阶梯经济性的反应。这些分子参与多组分、级联和串联过程的能力使它们成为反应发现、药物化学和绿色技术的理想工具。在接下来的5年里，我们将创建一个复杂的两性反应性组合，寻求从基本重要的化学转化到了解所考虑的目标分子性质的应用。这些研究将使广泛的学术和工业研究人员能够使用越来越多的两性分子来运行新的多组分工艺，探索“硼中间体”（具有已知官能团的分子，其中选定的碳原子已被硼取代）的反应性，并利用我们的发现开发药物化学应用。我们的研究将具有实际意义，并将广泛适用于制药生产，因为我们的努力将使所有合成有用的试剂商业化和市场化。为了做到这一点，我们将充分利用我们与西格玛奥尔德里奇的现有关系。我们与制药行业的联系，例如与默克、辉瑞、阿斯利康和葛兰素史克的积极研究合作，将作为一个强大的平台，将我们的研究成果转化为加拿大各种利益相关者。

Our research program aims at the development and synthetic application of amphoteric reagents. As part of our efforts, we will be pursuing the chemistry of molecules that contain counterintuitive combinations of nucleophilic and electrophilic reaction centers. The bifunctional nature arising from "forced orthogonality" enables amphoteric molecules to participate in reactions of high atom- and step- economy. The capacity of these molecules to engage in multicomponent, cascade, and tandem processes makes them ideal tools for reaction discovery, medicinal chemistry, and green technology. Over the next 5 years, we will create a sophisticated portfolio of amphoteric reactivity, seeking applications that will range from fundamentally significant chemical transformations to understanding the properties of target molecules under consideration. These investigations will enable a wide range of academic and industrial researchers to run novel multicomponent processes using a growing collection of amphoteric molecules, explore the reactivity of "borointermediates" (molecules equipped with well-known functional groups in which a selected carbon atom(s) has been replaced by boron), and develop medicinal chemistry applications using our discoveries. Our studies will have practical significance and will be of broad applicability to pharmaceutical manufacturing because we will commercialize and market all synthetically useful reagents resulting from our efforts. In order to do this, we will take full advantage of our existing relationship with Sigma Aldrich. Our ties with the pharmaceutical industry, exemplified by active research collaborations with Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline will serve as a powerful platform to translate our research findings to a diverse range of Canadian stakeholders.