New Tools and Methods for Organic Synthesis

化合物及其衍生物在日常生活中具有极其重要的作用。因此，多年来在化学研究领域进行了大量和持续的投资以产生新知识和开发新应用也就不足为奇了。值得注意的是，有机化学领域的研究人员在这一一般过程中发挥了重要作用。尽管合成化学家目前可以使用各种方法来生产有机化合物，但仍然需要新的合成工具来提高反应的效率和选择性，并需要新的工艺来获得原始结构基元或解决当前的可持续性和环境影响问题。 目前的研究计划围绕三个主题构建：均相金催化、氢转移反应和卡宾化学，这三个主题都是有机化学中最活跃的领域，都提供了解决上述问题的机会。近年来，均相金催化受到了科学界的极大关注。在存在其他官能团的情况下，金配合物选择性地结合到碳链上的能力为发现新的选择性转化提供了独特的机会。我们在这一领域的研究将集中在新型金催化剂的设计和合成，以及开发高效和选择性的金催化转化来合成有价值的结构基元。在亲电活化或自由基条件下的氢转移是使有机分子功能化并迅速增加其结构复杂性的一种有用的方法。在这一领域，我们将通过C-H键的功能化来开发医药工业感兴趣的杂环分子的新途径，并研究烯烃的氢官能化合成重要的手性结构基元。最后，通过利用卡宾物种的特殊活性和它们在有机化学中的广泛适用性，我们将致力于开发非传统卡宾前体并研究它们的化学。 总体而言，这一多元化研究计划的结果有望通过提供设计有机分子结构的新方法，直接影响化学合成领域。

Chemical compounds and their derivatives are of tremendous importance in everyday life. It is therefore not surprising that substantial and continuous investments have been made in the chemistry research field over the years to generate new knowledge and develop new applications. It is worth noting that researchers in the field of organic chemistry play an important role in this general process. Although synthetic chemists currently have access to a variety of methods to produce organic compounds, there still exists a need for new synthetic tools allowing reactions to proceed with better efficiency and selectivity, and for new processes allowing access to original structural motifs or addressing the current questions of sustainability and environmental impact. The present research program is structured around three main themes: homogeneous gold catalysis, hydrogen transfer reactions and carbene chemistry, which are among the most active areas in organic chemistry and all offer opportunities to address the above-mentioned issues. In the recent years, homogenous gold catalysis has received considerable attention by the scientific community. The ability of gold complexes to selectively bind to carbon pi-systems in the presence of other functional groups provides a unique opportunity for the discovery of novel selective transformations. Our research in this field will focus on the design and synthesis of new gold catalysts, and on the development of efficient and selective gold-catalyzed transformations for the synthesis of valuable structural motifs. Transfer of hydrogen under electrophilic activation or under radical conditions represents a useful method to functionalize organic molecules and rapidly increase their structural complexity. In this domain, we will develop new access to heterocyclic molecules of interest to the pharmaceutical industry by functionalization of C-H bonds and study the hydrofunctionalization of alkenes for the synthesis of important chiral structural motifs. Finally, by capitalizing on the exceptional reactivity of carbenic species and on their broad applicability in organic chemistry, we will work on the development of unconventional carbene precursors and study their chemistry. Overall, the outcomes of this diversified research program are expected to directly impact the field of chemical synthesis by providing new ways to design the construction of organic molecules.