This project, funded by the NSF Chemical Synthesis Program, supports the research of Professor Haibo Ge of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Professor Ge's research involves environmentally-friendly and atom-efficient methods for preparing important organic molecules. The successful development of this research has an impact on the fields of synthetic organic, medicinal, and agricultural chemistries. The training of undergraduate and graduate students for entry into the workforce is also a key part of this project. A new course and a new undergraduate laboratory experiment are being developed. These courses focus on the integration of transition-metal-catalyzed and heterocyclic chemistry in the curriculum. The summer undergraduate research program improves retention and engagement among chemistry and biochemistry students at IUPUI, and facilitates their entry into the job market or graduate/professional school.
Professor Ge is developing methods for the conversion of sp3-hybridized carbon-hydrogen bonds into carbon-carbon bonds using copper-catalyzed reactions conducted under an atmosphere of oxygen. These direct, catalytic dehydrogenative carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions achieve the selective oxidation of sp3 carbons adjacent to a heteroatom (nitrogen or oxygen) or an imino group (carbon-nitrogen double bond) in a variety of starting substrates. The processes are extended to achieve efficient syntheses of a variety of heterocyclic compounds. The diastereoselective and enantioselective (using chiral catalysts) variants of these processes are also being studied.
