Enantioselective Bidentate Lewis Acid Catalyzed Domino Diels-Alder Reactions

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hermann A. Wegner
• Subject Area: Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 322173476

New methods to access complex molecular structures open new avenues for applications in medicinal as well as material sciences. Especially the synthesis of chiral three-dimensional compounds in an enantiomerically pure form is of great interest. In the past years we established bidentate Lewis acids as efficient catalysts for the inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder (IEDDA) reaction of 1,2-diazenes. Recently we could incorporate this powerful transformation into domino processes preparing highly complex geometries in only one synthetic step. In this project we would like to develop chiral bidentate Lewis acid catalysts to conduct these domino transformations in an enantioselective fashion. Preliminary results support the proposed research. By transferring the principle of bidentate Lewis acid catalysis in an asymmetric way a new concept in asymmetric catalysis is presented. These new methods open the efficient way to highly divers libraries of three-dimensional compounds.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants