Studies of organometallic reaction mechanisms and development of new synthetic methods

The goal of the project is to establish and elucidate mechanisms of fundamental organometallic reactions occurring in catalysis and through the knowledge obtained develop new synthetically useful catalytic organic reactions.

More efficient metal catalysts will be developed for use in selective organic synthesis and the combination of metal- and enzyme-catalyzed reactions will provide novel and efficient enantioselective organic transformations.The planned research will be pursued according to three main lines: (i) Mechanisms of organometallic reactions; (ii) Development of new synthetic methods; (iii) Theoretical studies of metal-catalyzed reactionsThe first part involves mechanistic studies on metal-catalyzed reactions.

The mechanisms of metal-catalyzed racemization and oxidation of alcohols and amines will be studied.

Mechanistic aspects on palladium-catalyzed carbocyclizations involving allenes and related unsaturated compounds will be investigated. Based on these mechanistic studies new synthetic methods with metal catalysis will be developed.

New oxidation reactions as well as combined metal- and enzyme-catalyzed enantioselective reactions via dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) will be developed. Finally, theoretical calculations on relevant intermediates in the catalytic reactions will be carried out.