With funding from the Organic Dynamics Program, Dr. DiMare of the University of California, Santa Barbara, will elaborate the reaction dynamics and parameters for the enantioselective-titanium catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction. If successful, the results of the investigation will provide future investigators with a rational basis for catalyst design and improvement. This proposal is in an area which is both fundamental and significant for chiral chemistry objectives. The ability to catalyze a chemical reaction is important since it reduces raw material usage and waste products. To catalyze an enantioselective process is more significant because the appropriate three-dimensional molecule can be generated. This is useful for academic knowledge as well as for industry and the fields of medicine and pharmaceuticals chemistry.
