9319962 Doyle Dirhodium(II) catalysts that possess bridging chiral carboxamide ligands will be developed for highly enantioselective metal carbene and other chemical transformations. The development of effective, highly enantioselective catalysts for metal carbene reactions of diazoketones, for aziridination, for Lewis acid-promoted reactions, and for hydroboration will be undertaken. New polymer-supported chiral dirhodium(II) catalysts will be prepared, and attention will be directed to increasing catalyst turnover numbers beyond 1000. The major goal of this project will be the synthesis of chiral dirhodium(II) catalysts that have high turnover numbers for the formation of single products that are enantiomerically pure. %%% This grant from the Organic Dynamics Program supports the continuing work of Professor Michael P. Doyle at Trinity University. Most biologically important molecules possess regions of chirality or handedness. In other words, these regions are related as ones right hand to ones left hand. This chirality is essential for biological activity. In this research, chiral catalysts which incorporate rhodium will be prepared and used to carry out reactions where the product of the reaction is chiral. These reactions include the addition of a CH2 unit to a carbon-carbon double bond to give a chiral compound which contains three carbon in a cyclic array. ***
