Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of Synthetic Methodologies Of Nucleophile-Electrophile Chemistry, Michael R. Stentzel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The work outlined in this dissertation describes the development of synthetic methodologies utilizing a wide electrophilicity range of substrates towards the synthesis of new compounds. Substitution, addition, and superelectrophilic chemistry are powerful tools to afford potentially important compounds. These concepts are summarized in chapter 1.

Chapter 2 describes the capture of superacid catalyzed fluorenyl cations with nitriles (Ritter reaction) and alcohols. Optimization of reaction conditions and extensive scope studies were performed.

In chapter 3, the Michael addition of organometallic reagents with N-heterocyclic substituted olefins is explored. The nucleophilic carbanion intermediate species is shown to have reactivity towards strong electrophiles. With …

New Synthetic Methods Using Superelectrophiles, Sean Kennedy

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The work outlined in this dissertation describes new synthetic methods in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds mediated by superacid catalysis. Superacids are powerful reagents that enhance the reactivity of electrophiles, thereby opening the door to new reactive pathways with very weak nucleophiles. In this work, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (triflic acid, CF3SO3H) is employed as a superacid catalyst to effect new transformations. These concepts are summarized in chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes a new acid-catalyzed cascade leading to the indolizidine ring system, which is present in a number of natural products. Experiments support a proposed mechanism involving vinylogous keto-enol tautomerization. The synthesis …

The Design, Synthesis, And Evaluation Of Inhibitors Of The Ispf Enzyme In The Mep Pathway, Christopher G. Stewart

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Isoprenoids are a class of over 50,000 compounds that serve as key precursors for many compounds in plants and animals. These compounds play critical roles in many biological functions such as cellular growth, respiration, and go on to form critical compounds such as steroids and vitamins. Despite their overall necessity to life their biosynthesis only follows two synthetic pathways. These pathways are the Mevalonic Acid (MVA) Pathway and the 2-C-Methyl-D-Erythritol-4-Phosphate (MEP) Pathway also known as the non-mevalonate pathway. The MVA pathway is found primarily in humans and some higher plants while the MEP pathway is found in bacteria and some …