Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Development of Ni-catalyzed Asymmetric Cross-Coupling of Unactivated C(sp3) Electrophiles Using a Dual Catalysis System

Kristen Gardner is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research, with additional activities to broaden participation in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Gardner supports the research project entitled “Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: “Development of Ni-catalyzed asymmetric cross-coupling of unactivated C(sp3) electrophiles using a dual catalysis system” under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. The host institution for the fellowship is California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Sarah Reisman. This proposal aims to develop a new approach for the Ni-catalyzed C(sp3)–C(sp2) cross-coupling reactions between unactivated alkyl chlorides and C(sp2) electrophiles. Constructing C(sp3)–C(sp2) bonds is a fundamental goal of organic chemistry that often faces the challenges of cross-reactivity, stereochemical control, and the necessity for highly reactive and selective catalysts to activate the strong C(sp3)–Cl bond. The proposed research aims to address these challenges by developing a novel dual ligand Ni-catalyzed system for enantioselective C(sp3)–C(sp2) cross-coupling with unactivated alkyl chlorides. The proposed work will use cyclic voltammetry studies to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed dual ligand system. Successful implementation of this work will provide fundamental insights into the construction of C(sp3)-rich molecules, thus having broad implications to the field of organic synthesis especially for the late-stage functionalization of complex organic molecules for applications in pharmaceutically relevant transformations. The PI plans to broaden participation in STEM by mentoring undergraduate students through Caltech’s WAVE summer program and participating in Caltech’s CLTO’s Science Nights through demonstrations to local schools and library science nights. 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.