Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Design, Synthesis And Application Of A Novel Class Of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Catalysts, Abigail Lynn Hubbard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A copper carbenoid representative of a novel class of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts has been synthesized. This compound was characterized by X-ray crystallography and was found to confirm the rationale of our synthetic design: The C2-symmetric structure places four stereocenters in close proximity (<5Å) to the reactive site of the carbene via a trans-annular gearing effect. The copper carbenoid was found to catalyze the hydrosilylation of prochiral ketones with superb selectivity in high yield.

Studies Toward The Development Of A Microelectrode Array For Detection Of Dopamine Through Redox Cycling, Anupama Aggarwal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Redox cycling is an electrochemical technique that cycles the reversible redox species between its oxidative states repeatedly on generator and collector electrodes. Two or more individually-addressable microelectrodes located close to each other allow redox cycling to be possible. Electrochemical behavior of a biologically important molecule, dopamine is examined under redox cycling conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first report on detection of physiological concentration of dopamine in presence of up to 100 times excess ascorbate with the use of redox cycling, without the involvement of polymer coating such as Nafion®.

Microfabrication was used to produce different geometries (parallel bands …

Dynamics And Catalytic Resolution Of Selected Chiral Organolithiums, Timothy Kum Beng

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the most important developments of the last decade has been the emergence of new methods to dynamically resolve racemic organolithiums using stoichiometric amounts of the chiral ligand. When this concept is implemented successfully, it obviates the need for covalently attached chiral auxiliary based methods, asymmetric deprotonation, and asymmetric synthesis of a precursor stannane as ways to access enantioenriched organolithium compounds for use in asymmetric synthesis. Since certain electrophiles consume the chiral ligand, it is desirable to render this process catalytic in the chiral ligand.

As part of a larger study on the amenability of chiral organolithiums to a …