With this Award, the Chemical Synthesis Program of the NSF Division of Chemistry is supporting the research of Professor Laura L. Anderson at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to develop new ways to construct molecules to help meet society's demands for new drugs and new materials. Professor Anderson works with graduate and undergraduate students designing ways to use a reactive molecule called a nitrone as the lynchpin between cheap, readily-accessible reagents and complicated value-added compounds. These nitrone lynchpins are tuned towards new chemical bond construction. Robust routes are being determined to easily generate key intermediates. This approach provides access to new examples of desirable compounds for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications. The broader impact of this work results from both the compounds generated from the new reactions, as well as the new strategies and fundamental reactivity patterns that are identified. Educational aspects of the project are aimed towards training aspiring chemists at the graduate and undergraduate level, as well as high school students that participate in the project over the summer. UIC is a minority serving institution and additional societal benefits of this program include the recruitment and participation of under-represented students at all levels.
Professor Anderson and her students design convergent synthetic routes to conjugated nitrone intermediates and divergent stereocontrolled applications of these intermediates for the synthesis of novel heterocycles. The overarching goal of this program is to couple two simple starting materials to access novel reactive intermediates and then to tune the reactivity of these intermediates to prepare an array of value-added products in a small number of steps. Reactivity goals for the conjugated nitrone intermediates include determining how to control the stereoselectivity of an electrocyclization reaction for the asymmetric synthesis of azetidines and designing ways to direct a cascade process towards the synthesis of spirocyclic pyrrolines. The aim of improving access to conjugated nitrone intermediates involves identifying and fixing road blocks in the Chan-Lam reactions of oximes. These activities provide impact on a broader scale due to the fundamental reactivity patterns and synthetic strategies that are identified, as well as the expansion of chemical space that is achieved through access to new heterocyclic compounds. Educational goals are achieved by training a group of graduate, undergraduate, and high school students to think analytically, hone their problem-solving skills, and have hands-on experience with a STEM discipline. The involvement of underrepresented groups further serves to better the future of chemistry through advancing diversity.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
