Elizabeth M. Dauncey

Modular catalyst design as a strategy to access large and diverse catalyst libraries.

Advancements in transition metal catalyzed C-H activation/functionalization cascades have allowed the synthetic chemist's toolbox to be significantly expanded. Despite this, protocols for the remote alkynylation of linear aliphatic amines still remain limited. Herein, a palladium-catalyzed directing-group approach to alkynylation of aliphatic amines is disclosed. The synthetic utility was demonstrated with a gram-scale reaction and a functional group compatibility test.

A divergent strategy for the remote arylation, vinylation and alkylation of nitriles is described.

The direct decarboxylative azidation of cyclic α-amino acids has been achieved via visible light-mediated organo-photoredox catalysis. This synthetic strategy allows the simple preparation of azide-contaning building blocks and has been used in the selective modification of N-terminal proline residues of two di-peptides.