Metal Catalyzed Methods for Preparing Organoboron and Organosilicon Compounds

About This Grant

With the support of the Chemical Synthesis Program in the Division of Chemistry and the Office of Strategic Initiatives, Professor Donald Watson of the University of Delaware is studying the development of new chemical reactions to install boron and silicon atoms in organic molecules. Organic molecules containing boron and silicon are important to a wide variety of fields, including the preparation of new medicines, the synthesis of electronic components, and in agrichemicals used to boost crop yields. The development of new chemical methods to prepare these compounds is important as it allows accelerated access by enabling the use of more readily available starting materials and facilitates the synthesis of new sub-classes organoborane and organosilicon molecules that cannot currently be accessed with known reactions. Prof. Watson is also leading efforts to expand interest in STEM careers by carrying out an early childhood science outreach program at a local preschool, and by collaborating with a Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) to carry out a student exchange program that exposes PhD students to PUI teaching environments and PUI students to the advanced research environment at the University of Delaware. Despite their importance as targets and intermediates in the synthesis of molecules of societal importance, the efficient preparation of many boron and silicon compounds remains limited. Prof. Waston and his research group are developing new uses of boron and silicon electrophiles in transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions to address this critical gap in chemical synthesis. New reactions involving the coupling of boron and silicon electrophiles to organic nucleophiles allow the rapid introduction of boron and silicon centers into common organic frameworks. Silyl-Heck-like reactions of alkynes, nucleophilic alkylation reactions of silyl halides, and boryl-Heck reactions are being investigated for expanded and improved routes to these important compounds. This research is both practical, as it allows access to highly valuable organoboron and organosilicon compounds, and fundamental, as it is exploring the underlying chemistry of metalloboron and metallosilicon chemistry. Students involved in this program are receiving training in both synthetic and mechanistic aspects of organic and organometallic chemistry. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.