Valorization of Platform Chemicals using Photoredox Catalysis
Visible light photoredox catalysis is a powerful tool for generating reactivity in chemical substrates at non-traditional sites in organic chemistry. This technique is experiencing a revival in radical chemistry, making it an exciting area of research. Photoredox catalysis is a powerful tool that allows organic chemists to work with molecules that were previously difficult to transform while using mild conditions and low-energy visible light.
This thesis focuses on the use of photoredox-catalyzed hydrogen atom transfer to create valuable carbon-carbon bonds and utilize glycerol and furfural as important platform chemicals. The valorization of glycerol was achieved by two different photocatalysts. With either an iridium- or tungsten-based photocatalyst it was possible to couple glycerol with different olefins. The tungsten-based catalyst was also shown to facilitate the carbon-carbon bond formation between furfural and olefins to obtain new bio-derived molecules.
A project carried out at Lundbeck describes the synthesis of a non-classical bioisostere of the phenyl moiety. Non-classical bioisosteres are chemical moieties that demonstrate similar steric[1]and electronic properties as the original functional group. The synthesized bioisostere encompasses an oxygen atom in the core of the structure. The project aims to validate the synthesized bioisostere as a non-classical phenyl bioisostere by installing the moiety into different drug molecules and, thereby, study the drug properties of the synthesized drug analogs. Please email the summary to the PhD secretary at the depart
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Robert Madsen, DTU Chemistry
Co-supervisor:
Associate Professor Sebastian Meyer, DTU Chemistry
Examiners:
Associate Professor Søren Kramer, DTU Chemistry
Professor Kenneth Wärnmark, Lund University, Sweden
Associate Professor Ji-Woong Lee, University of Copenhagen
Chairperson:
Associate Professor Luca Laraia, DTU Chemistry