With this award from the Chemical Catalysis Program, Professor Clark R. Landis from University of Wisconsin at Madison will advance the state-of-the-art of catalysis through the design and synthesis of novel organophosphine compounds, 3,4-diazaphospholanes. Efficient, selective, and atom economical transformations catalyzed by chiral transition metal complexes represent a critical technology for cost-effective and environmentally-benign synthesis of chiral pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and natural products. This project addresses the intellectual challenges of (1) creating chiral catalyst environments with diverse collections of functional groups using modular and bead-based syntheses (2) understanding how enantioselectivity and activity are controlled in hydroformylation reactions and (3) implementing enantioselective catalysis by organic chemists at both the bench and industrial plant scales through extension of enantioselective hydroformylation to new substrate classes, reaction conditions, and the incorporation of enantioselective hydroformylation into multistep syntheses.
In addition to the scientific impact this work will support the competitiveness of U. S. chemical and pharmaceutical industries through the development of efficient, low-waste processes and through the training of undergraduate and graduate students for careers in science, technology, and engineering fields.
