New Synthesis of Biochemicals with Homogeneous Catalysts

DESCRIPTION: (Principal Investigator's Abstract) The ultimate goal of our research is to design and develop highly efficient catalytic processes for the syntheses of enantiopure biochemicals, which enable us to carry out multi-step synthesis from simple starting materials in a highly organized manner. These highly efficient and sophisticated catalytic processes, especially catalytic asymmetric transformations, may eventually replace many conventional methods for the syntheses of pharmaceuticals and other biologically active compounds of medicinal interest. As the continuation of our approaches to this challenging goal, we will focus our efforts on the development of new and efficient catalytic synthetic processes for the asymmetric synthesis of heterocyclic and carbocyclic compounds of medicinal interest in the next funding period. The proposed research includes the following two specific aims. 1. Development of new and efficient catalytic methods and catalytic asymmetric processes for the syntheses of heterocycles and carbocycles. In this project, we will perform extensive investigations on the development of new methodologies on catalytic annulation processes including regio-, stereo-, and enantioselective directed hydrosilylations, directed silylformylations, silylcarbocyclizations (SiCaCs), and cyclohydrocarbonylations for the synthesis of heterocycles and carbocycles. 2. Asymmetric synthesis of heterocyclic, carbocyclic, and related compounds of medicinal interest. In this project, we plan to develop new synthetic routes to a variety of enantiopure heterocyclic and carbocyclic compounds of medicinal interest featuring diastereoselective or enantioselective catalytic processes as the key steps.