9320668 Faller Yale University Dr. John W. Faller, Chemistry Department, Yale University, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program for studies related to asymmetric synthesis and catalysis. New methods for asymmetric and regioselective syntheses will be developed using metal complexes. These will include an efficient stoichiometric reagent for the preparation of monallylic alcohols based on a chiral Mo complex, the use of chiral poisons to simplify the preparation of catalysts for asymmetric synthesis, and the development of chiral sulfoxides for the resolution of chiral metal complexes. An object which is not the same as its mirror image (e.g. a left compared to a right handed glove) is said to be chiral. Many pharmaceutical and agricultural chemicals are chiral and often only one of the two mirror image molecules is desired. Since it is difficult to obtain a single mirror image, the production of such molecules is an important goal in contemporary chemistry. In this project new strategies toward solving the problem of "asymmetric synthesis" will be applied to a broad range of reactions and new, more economic preparations of these important molecules will be developed.
