RESEARCH INTERESTS

The development of greener synthetic methods that provide access to complex molecules is of increasing importance to the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Cross-coupling and cross-electrophile coupling reactions have greatly advanced the field of synthetic organic chemistry by allowing for the efficient synthesis of new carbon-carbon bonds. Additionally, dicarbofunctionalization reactions are being realized for their potential to quickly form two new carbon-carbon bonds in a single step. We aim to harness the power of carbon-carbon bond forming reactions with oxetane motifs to rapidly install new carbon-carbon bonds.

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Oxetanes, strained four-membered oxygen-containing rings, can be accessed in a single step from aldehydes and alkenes via a Paternò-Büchi reaction. Oxetanes could serve as linchpin motifs for complexity-building reactions as they serve as stable functional groups found in natural products while functioning as reactive intermediates for synthetic manipulation. We are interested in developing nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling and dicarbofunctionalization reactions of oxetanes for the synthesis of structurally complex molecules.