Professor Leckta's multifaceted research efforts explore aspects of asymmetric transformations of imines. These include addition reactions of enol- and allylsilanes and ketene silyl acetals to imino esters catalyzed by chiral Lewis acids, asymmetric Staudinger and Baylis-Hillman reactions. Also, the development of novel catalysts based on diborane as a bifunctional Lewis acid and (bis)phosphine ligands is being pursued while incorporating computations to evaluate and possibly design useful catalytic species. Creating a bridge between the experimental and the theoretical is a hallmark of Professor Leckta'a teaching goals, with computational chemistry employed in the introductory as well as advanced aspects of his curriculum. Further, plans are being made to include high school teachers with one goal being to develop visual aids to pique the interest of high school students.
With this CAREER award, the Synthetic Organic Program supports the research and teaching efforts of Dr. Thomas Leckta of Johns Hopkins University. Professor Leckta's research deals with new ways to make nitrogen-containing molecules called amines in such a way that the three- dimensional shape or chirality of the molecule is controlled. This is ever more important when designing the synthesis of biomolecules and drugs. Professor Leckta's teaching emphasizes the use of computers as a tool for predicting the outcome of chemical reactions before time is invested in actually trying the chemistry in the laboratory. An outreach program is being planned that will involve high school teachers and provide demonstrations of high-quality graphics and computations to high school students.
