Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The research focuses on the discovery of new methods to create carbon-carbon bonds, which is a vital transformation in both synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry. These bonds have historically been prepared by cross-coupling reactions whereby two partner molecules, each with a different functional group, in a reaction accelerated by a palladium catalyst. The procedure developed in my group employs carboxylic acids in place of the metal which is typically employed to achieve this transformation. This is advantageous since it circumvents the need for the pre-functionalization of the coupling partner. Additionally, the main by-product of the reaction, carbon dioxide, acts as a driving force for the reaction and significantly reduces the amount of metal-based impurities generated, which simplifies final purification. The research outlined in this proposal requires a GC-MS, which is the equipment requested in this grant. GC-MS is a leading technique for the identification and characterization of small molecules. This instrument will allow us to build on this finding and explore novel ways to utilize this reactivity. In this research program, efforts will focus on the development of novel catalysts with increased palladium efficiency, extension beyond heteroaromatic carboxylic acids to new carboxylic acids and the employment of acid surrogates which can also undergo this type of reactivity. These efforts will have an impact on the pharmaceutical industry by both reducing the time required to discover new drugs and reducing drug costs by increasing the effieciency of their preparation.