Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

We are requesting funding for a urgent replacement of our group's double glovebox. The Speed group develops catalysts and reagents for organic synthesis using principles from main group chemistry. Over the past three years, we have emerged as one of the world's leading groups in asymmetric main-group catalysis. We have shown that diazaphospholenes can be used to prepare chiral amines by catalytic reduction. Chiral amines are vital components of many biologically active molecules. We have developed catalysts that can reduce imines to amines in the presence of many other reactive functional groups, allowing access to amines that are not readily prepared using existing catalysts. We are also studying the chemical functionalization of sulfur hexafluoride, to develop mild tools to incorporate the pentafluorosulfanyl group into complex molecules at a late stage in a synthesis. While medicinal chemists anticipate that the pentafluorosulfanyl group may impart unique properties to molecules, exploration of this group has been very limited because of the absence of methods to incorporate the pentafluorosulfanyl group under mild conditions. A breakthrough in this project will open up exploration of the properties of the pentafluorosulfanyl group in a wide variety of molecules. Our work is made possible by using a glovebox to synthesize and screen air sensitive catalysts and reagents. Our current glovebox, which was a surplus item within Dalhousie's Chemistry Department when I started, has enabled our research program. Unfortunately this older model glovebox is suffering from many technical problems that have led to significant and continued downtime and the generation of false-negative results due to the repeated compromise of sensitive reagents. A modern replacement glovebox will allow the Speed group to continue exploring main group chemistry as applied to organic synthesis with the knowledge that the chemistry is being conducted in an atmosphere that is free of contaminants that will interfere with the chemistry.