In this project funded by the Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Paul A. Wender and co-workers of the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University will explore the development of new reactions, reagents and catalysts for organic synthesis. Studies will focus on new reagents for [5+2] cycloadditions and on a new family of reactivity relaying reagents for multicomponent [5+2]/[4+2] cycloadditions. Studies will also be directed at new strategies for carbon-carbon bond activation, a required step in a large class of cycloaddition reactions. Finally, studies will be directed at the development of the first transporter-catalyst conjugates for imaging and sensing in biological systems.
This research is directed at the introduction of new reactions, catalysts and reagents for organic synthesis and thus at the introduction of new strategies for synthesizing molecules of interest for theoretical, medicinal, materials, imaging and energy research. New reactions, catalysts and reagents change how we think about bond construction, thereby providing options for improving step and time economy and providing greener if not ideal approaches to making molecules of scientific and societal value. Such advances provide the foundation for the pharmaceutical, agricultural, fine chemicals, materials science, environmental science, and energy industries and the fundamental tools for scientific research. The focus of this work on molecular processes also advances our basic knowledge of molecular structure and function, which in turn provides the foundation for the molecularization of science from molecular anthropology to molecular zoology. As evident from over 300 former coworkers trained in this program, many in leadership positions in academia and in industry, this research provides an exceptional training program for undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, including those from historically under-represented groups, and a source of inspiration and knowledge for others to use chemistry to address pressing and unsolved problems in medicine, materials, diagnostics and energy research.
