Organic Chemistry Seminar

Catalytic reversible reactions, such as alkene metathesis and transfer hydrogenation, have had an auspicious impact on the molecular sciences. This presentation will describe our efforts to develop related "shuttle catalysis" reactions for the functionalization and defunctionalization of organic compounds. These reactions avoid the use of toxic reagents (e.g. HCN, CO) through the reversible transfer of chemical moieties between organic molecules. Shuttle catalysis has further been employed in the development of unprecedented C–X (X = S, P) bond metathesis reactions that can address significant synthetic challenges across the molecular sciences.