With this EAGER award, the Chemical Synthesis Program is funding Professor K.C. Nicolaou of the Scripps Research Institute to attempt to develop the first viable catalytic, asymmetric olefin dichlorination. Though clearly of high risk, success across any of the olefin classes to be investigated in this study, would represent high reward, with a likely impact on natural product, medicinal, process and combinatorial chemistry endeavors. The Nicolaou group will explore complementary organocatalytic and organometallic avenues toward the title transformation, with cinchona alkaloids among the chiral scaffolds expected to impart asymmetry, and with both relatively non-polarized alkenes and polarized alkenes of the alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl variety to be explored.
If successful, a catalytic asymmetric dichlorination tranformation is expected to have broad scientific impact, across both academic and industrial settings. Given the diverse array of organic, inorganic and organometallic chemistries to be explored, students are expected to benefit from this broad synthetic training. The PI plans to work to include women and chemists from traditionally underrepresented groups in this research team undertaking.
