Development of New Catalytic (Asymmetric) C-X Bond Forming Reactions

Permanently increasing standards for environmentally protection in Austria and the European Union goes hand in hand with the development of new and highly efficient methodologies for academic laboratories and industry. Therefore, the main topic is to raise the bar of a "Perfect Reaction". A perfect reaction is generally thought to occur with inexpensive reagents, run with fast rates, form 100 % yield of product, require no added heat, and generate no waste. The main goal of this project is the design of new catalytic reactions which transform bulk chemicals from petrochemistry into interesting products for pharmaceutical- and fine chemical industry. The application of metal catalysts should lead to new methods for carbon-carbon- and carbon-heteroatom (N, O, S) - bond forming reactions. Such transformations have emerged as powerful tools for the synthesis of biological active compounds, in medicinal chemistry as well as in material science. Furthermore these new reactions should be developed into enantioselective processes by modifying the metal catalyst. The importance of asymmetric catalysis was emphasized with the Nobel price 2001 to Sharpless, Noyori and Knowles.