Metalloporphyrins have been shown to catalyze many fundamental and practically important chemical transformations, some of which represent the first demonstrations of these catalytic processes. The most notable examples include an assortment of atom/group transfer reactions, such as oxene, nitrene, and carbene transfers. Atom/group transfer reactions allow for the direct conversion of abundant and inexpensive alkenes and alkanes into value-added functional molecules. Previous reports from our group have shown that cobalt-porphyrin based carbene and nitrene transfer reactions are some of the most selective and practical catalytic systems developed for cyclopropanation and aziridination. Backed by a family of D2-symmetric chiral cobalt porphyrins our group continues the development of stereoselective carbene and nitrene transfer reactions. Metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation of olefins with diazo reagents has attracted great research interest because of its fundamental and practical importance. The resulting cyclopropyl units are recurrent motifs in biologically important molecules and can serve as versatile precursors in organic synthesis. Supported by a family of D2-symmetric chiral cobalt porphyrins, we have demonstrated the use of succimidyl diazoacetate as carbene source for a highly diastereo- and enantioselective cyclopropanation process. The resulting cyclopropyl succinimdyl esters are highly reactive and serve as valuable synthons for generating cyclopropylcarboxamides. We have also developed the first cobalt-porphyrin based intramolecular cyclopropanation, which is able to produce the resulting bicyclic lactones in high yields and enantioselectivity. Nitrene transfer reactions are also an attractive route to produce biologically and synthetically important molecules such as amines and aziridines. Although much progress has been made in nitrene transfer reactions utilizing [N-(p-toluenesulfonyl) imino]phenyliodinane (PhI=NTs) the nitrene source suffers from several drawbacks. Consequently, there has been growing interest in developing catalytic nitrene transfer reactions using alternate nitrene sources. To this end, we have utilized arylsulfonyl azides as nitrene source to explore their use in the development of a cobalt-porphyrin catalyzed enantioselective aziridination system. The cobalt catalyzed process can proceed under mild and neutral conditions in low catalyst loading without the need of other reagents, while generating nitrogen gas as the only byproduct. We have also explored the use of arylsulfonyl azides as nitrene source in a cobalt-catalyzed intramolecular C-H amination process.

Radical chemistry has attracted a large amount of research interest over the last few decades and radical reactions have recently been recognized as powerful tools for organic synthesis. The synthetic applications of radicals have been demonstrated in many fields, including in the synthesis of complex natural products. Radical reactions have a number of inherent synthetic advantages over their ionic counterparts. For example, they typically proceed at fast reaction rates under mild and neutral conditions in a broad spectrum of solvents and show significantly greater functional group tolerance. Furthermore, radical processes have the capability of performing in a cascade fashion, allowing for the rapid construction of complex molecular structures with multiple stereogenic centers. To further enhance the synthetic applications of radical reactions, current efforts are devoted toward the development of effective approaches for the regioselective control of their reactivity as well as stereoselectivity, especially enantioselectivity, a challenging issue that is intrinsically challenged by the "free" nature of radical chemistry. This research has identified a fundamentally new approach to radical reactions based on the concept of metalloradical catalysis (MRC) for controlling the stereoselectivity of both C- and N-centered radical reactions. Cobalt(II) porphyrins [Co(Por)], are stable metalloradicals, and have been shown to enable the activation of diazo reagents and azides to cleanly generate C- and N-centered radicals, respectively, with N2 as the only byproduct in a controlled and catalytic manner. In addition to the radical nature of [Co(Por)], the low bond dissociation energy of Co-C/Co-N bonds plays a key role in the successful turnover of the Co(II)-based catalytic carbene and nitrene transfers. Through the support of porphyrin ligands with tunable electronic, steric, and chiral environments, this general concept of Co(II)-based metalloradical catalysis (Co-MRC) has been successfully applied to the development of various radical processes that enable stereoselective carbene and nitrene transfers.

The design, effectiveness and versatility of the self-assembled monolayer-immobilized aza-bis(oxazoline) catalysts was explored here. The first part of this dissertation focuses on the immobilization of aza-bis(oxazoline) ligand with three different C2 groups onto self-assembled monolayer support material. In the homogeneous phase, the more steric bulk present at the C2 position of the catalytic system, the greater the selectivity. In the heterogeneous systems, those with the least amount of steric bulk had the greatest increase in selectivity compared to their respective homogeneous phase. The supports not only allowed for selectivity enhancements not observed in the homogeneous phase, but also demonstrated the effectiveness of this support material in the cyclopropanation reaction. <br>Self-assembled monolayer supports allowed for modification of the surface steric environment around the catalytic site. This was accomplished by varying the length of the background alkenethiol chains so that three steric environments were created. The three steric environments were the catalyst above the monolayer surface, level with the monolayer surface, and below the monolayer surface. Modification of the steric environment around the catalyst, in turn allows for control of the selectivity of the heterogeneous catalytic system. <br>Modification of the surface electronic environment around the catalytic site is accomplished by modification of alkanethiol tail groups. The five background tail groups investigated were hydroxyl, bromide, carboxylic acid, methyl ester, and nitrile. Modification of the background tail groups allows for control of the enantioselectivity in the cyclopropanation reaction. <br>Self-assembled monolayer supports also allow for the generation of effective reusable heterogeneous catalytic systems. One of the main positive aspects of heterogeneous catalysis is the ability to recycle the catalytic system multiple times without major reduction in selectivity. The duration of these heterogeneous aza-bis(oxazoline) systems is dependent on the stability of the gold substrate layer and the reaction solvent. <br>The last section of this dissertation focuses on the versatility of the aza-bis(oxazoline) copper complex immobilized onto self-assembled monolayers. The homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts were investigated in the carbonyl-ene reaction of ethyl glyoxylate and á-methylstyrene. The three heterogeneous catalytic systems were the carboxylic acid surface, hydroxyl surface, and the catalyst above the methyl monolayer surface. / Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences / Chemistry and Biochemistry / PhD / Dissertation

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Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.