Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Aminoboron compounds have received considerable attention in catalyzed carbon-carbon bond formation reactions, solid-phase synthesis, macrocyclic chemistry, organometallic and organic synthesis, and as glucose sensors for diabetes therapy.  Interest in these compounds also arises from their potent biological activities.  Unfortunately, routes to these potentially valuable compounds are limited to either metallation reactions or complicated palladium catalyzed borylations.  These methods suffer from low yields, harsh reaction conditions, intolerance to basic functional groups, or utilize expensive starting materials (diboron compounds) and, as a result, the number of known aminoboron compounds is surprisingly small.  The long-term goal of this research proposal deals with gentle and efficient ways of generating novel aminoboron compounds.  In addition to developing these processes, we aim to investigate all new boron compounds for potential antimicrobial and anticancer properties.