Development of Methodology Based on Reaction Selectivity of π-allyl Transition Metal Complex with Nucleophile and Superbase Organocatalysis

The development of effective catalysts for organic chemistry, especially for drug discovery and material science, is of fundamental importance both in basic research and in industrial applications. In view of the importance of ligand designs in developing new catalysts or their precursors for optimizing activity and selectivity, the team plan to develop a series of new reactions based on the selectivity of π-allyl transition metal complexes with nucleophile, and also explore novel asymmetric reactions based on superbase organocatalysison the basis of their previous works. These newly developed methodologies will be applied to total syntheses of structurally complex and biologically significant natural products, drug discovery and materials chemistry. 

The Shanghai-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory (Joint Laboratory) is a joint venture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Shanghai Institue of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Established in 1999, it aims to train graduate students and to foster collaborative research efforts between the three participating institutions.