This starter grant award of the Chemistry Division to the University of Pennsylvania supports the research of Professor Marisa C. Kozlowski. The theme of the research is the asymmetric synthesis of alpha-amino acids by transition-metal catalyzed hydroformylation of imines. Both diastereo- and enantioselective variants are proposed. Multistep reactions involving sequential alkene hydroformylation, imine formation, and imine hydroformylation will be performed using a single catalyst. Mechanistic studies will elucidate the course of the reactions and aid in the design of appropriate catalyst systems. The successful development of the synthetic process studied here represents a significant improvement over existing methods in that a large number of chiral amino acids can be produced inexpensively from readily available starting materials. Such materials are important in catalysis and asymmetic synthesis.
