Event

Design and Application of Simple Hydrogen Bond Donors as Enantioselective Catalysts

The development of simple catalysts for asymmetric synthesis—the preparation of chiral compounds—remains a central challenge in chemistry, driven in no small part by the fact that many pharmaceutical drugs are chiral. Traditionally, large-scale synthesis of chiral molecules employed either enzymes, Nature’s chiral factories, or metal-based catalysts. In the latter group, catalysts often utilize a Lewis acidic metal to activate reactants, with the surrounding chiral environment influencing enantioselectivity. However, the past couple of decade has witnessed a paradigm shift.  Instead of metal-mediated activation, many catalysts now harness hydrogen bonding to enhance reactivity and induce asymmetry. In this presentation I will summarize our work on this rapidly developing field of enantioselective catalysis.

Viresh Rawal received his PhD under Michael P. Cava from the University of Pennsylvania (1986) and carried out postdoctoral work with Professor Gilbert Stork (Columbia University). He commenced his independent career at Ohio State University in 1988, and in 1995 moved to the University of Chicago, where he is Professor of Chemistry. He has delivered over 300 plenary and invited lectures and his work has been recognized through several awards, including the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry E.C. Taylor Award (2022) and the ACS Award for Creative Work in Organic Synthesis (2024).