Research

Asymmetric Catalysis and Cross-Coupling Reactions

Our group research focuses in the field of organic chemistry, primarily on enantioselective synthesis, mechanistic studies and application to the synthesis of natural and non-natural products. Of particular interest are the exploring enantioconvergent and divergent process.

Transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of alkyl substrates are extremely useful for the construction C‒C bond. Enormous effort has gone into the development of stereoconvergent cross-coupling reactions with alkyl halides as electrophilic coupling partners. Improvements in ligand structure and mechanistic understanding have enabled the cross-coupling between a range of C(sp³) electrophiles bearing a variety of functional groups.

The ability to employ bench stable and readily available organic halides, without the need to pre-generate a reactive organometallic reagent, endows these cross-coupling reactions with a practical advantage over many conventional cross-coupling procedures. Whereas the synthetic potential of secondary alkyl chlorides and ethers yet to be revealed due to the higher energy barrier to undergo oxidative addition. In addition, the synthesis enantiopure boronic esters and silanes yet to be investigated provided the existing methodology is limited in scope. The development of highly versatile methods will likely have a substantial impact on organic synthesis, particularly if one can start with a economic and racemic alkyl chlorides or ethers. Recognising the wide accessibility of alkyl chlorides and ethers, our group aims to overcome the existing limitation by involving novel methodologies such as in-situ generation of M(0), employing electronically tunable chiral ligands and an investigation of unprecedented stereoconvergent coupling to enantiopure boronic esters and silanes.

Area of work

Organic Synthesis

Asymmetric Catalysis

Coupling Reactions

Natural product synthesis