The principal goals of this research program entail the discovery of new catalytic asymmetric transformations for organic synthesis. Synthetic reactions under investigation include Claisen rearrangements and -iminoester additions. To achieve these goals, transition structure modeling and combinatorial approaches will be implemented. The theoretical investigations of reaction systems, as well as the synthesis, analysis, and mechanistic study of catalysts will be undertaken. The University of Pennsylvania contributes substantially to the local economy with a workforce of 15,000 faculty and staff as well as 16,000 faculty and staff in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The current proposal will create or retain four jobs.
Chiral materials found in nature impact nearly every facet of biological and medical chemistry. For example, enantiomers of some chiral pharmaceuticals act on different receptors leading to singularly different effects. The ability of biological systems to discern the difference in chirality between two otherwise identical compounds has led to a demand for the selective preparation of enantiomerically pure compounds. In this proposal, new reaction methods and new asymmetric methods will be developed. The resultant technologies will be broadly useful in other contexts thereby facilitating the discovery and generation of new pharmaceutical agents.
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