Borylative Heterocyclization Reactions

With the support of the Chemical Synthesis (SYN) program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Suzanne A. Blum of the University of California, Irvine, will work with graduate students to design new chemical reactions that make molecules containing boron. These new molecules with boron are important for applications in drug discovery and the construction of the next generation of advanced materials.

In this research, new chemical methods will be developed, which insert boron at positions in molecules that are not currently possible. Concurrently, fundamental knowledge will be gained about how to manipulate chemical reactions to insert boron at desirable, but currently unobtainable, positions in molecules. The fundamental knowledge thereby accrued will likely contribute to chemical reaction development with boron well beyond this research project.

Additional broader impacts and societal benefits will be achieved through the creation of a Careers in Teaching seminar and roundtable series.

Professor Blum will work with graduate students to develop new boron/element addition reactions. The products arising from these reactions will be borylated organic building blocks that are useful for drug discovery and materials synthesis. This chemistry is directed at the addition of boron/oxygen, boron/nitrogen, and boron/sulfur to carbon–carbon bonds through borylative heterocyclization reactions.

Concurrent mechanistic studies are expected to generate fundamental knowledge about the reactivity of intermediates in these transformations that is suitable for developing reaction design. These studies will bring together the diverse expertise of Professor Blum’s laboratory in organic synthesis, organometallic chemistry, mechanistic investigation, and reaction development to address these challenging scientific experiments.

The expansion of the Professor Blum’s successful future faculty teacher training program at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) forms an additional broader impact for society. The creation of a Careers in Teaching Symposium will be uniquely enabled by this program and it will address an otherwise unmet need for the professional development of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at UCI.

Specifically, a seminar and roundtable series will provide graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with networking, education, and mentorship opportunities, including focused opportunities for participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences.

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.