Green and Controlled Synthesis of Chiral Compounds

Organocatalysis is a method used where the rate of reaction is increased by an organic catalyst, referred to an an organocatalyst. The use of an organic compound eliminates the need to use a metal catalyst, deeming the project as green. The absence of the metal catalyst means there is no need for the expensive recovery process during waste treatment and there is no risk of metal leakage. Organocatalysis are particularly useful because they allow for the production of many complex structures through multicomponent, multi-step or tandem reactions using relatively inexpensive compounds. The objective of this lab is to develop a new class of organocatalysts that incorporate both functionalities, NHCs and thiourea functionalities in a chiral scaffold. The combination these two grounps has never been investigated, however has the potential to lead to the generation of new organocatalysts important for many important transformations.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jesse Zhu

Student:

Adrienne Dao

Partner:

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

University:

Western University

Program:

Globalink