New modes of activation for the remote functionalization by organocatalysis

Abstract

During past two decades, enormous efforts have been devoted to the exploration of small molecule as catalytic mimics for nature’s enzymatic system. This has enabled researchers to use the inspiration found in various biosynthetic pathways and project these into useful laboratorial or industrial synthetic methods. In comparison to other conventional methods and catalyst, the organocatalyst have the advantage of being less toxic and more easily degradable, which may lead to ‘greener’ chemical synthesis. One of the main objectives for this Ph.D. project is to develop new and useful catalytic reactions using organic molecules as “open site” enzymes. Especially, in the synthesis of chiral non-racemic compounds, or compound libraries, which have great importance for life sciences, organocatalyst have shown to be useful. During this Ph.D. study, eight new asymmetric catalytic reactions or reaction sequence have in collaboration with others, been developed. Using these new methodologies, the synthesis of natural products, bioactive moieties and privileged synthetic building blocks can be accomplished from readily available reagents and non-toxic catalyst in a simple and benign way.