Anson Ming-Hin CherkDoktorand

Om mig

Developing methods to access N-X bonds (X = N, S, P, O, C) using heterogeneous catalysis

Nitrogen is extremely prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry—around 84% of FDA-approved drugs contain it.¹ As such, given the immense amount of waste produced in the industry, more efficient methods to incorporate nitrogen motifs in pharmaceutical compounds would be very valuable. The simplest way to conceptually incorporate N-X motifs would be to start from the naturally-abundant amines and oxidatively couple them with their corresponding partner. Methods to do this, however, typically require toxic reagents or intermediates that result in a large amount of waste. Our group seeks to use heterogeneous catalysis to develop a sustainable way to oxidatively couple amines. Currently we are focusing on a biomimetic system that use only oxygen as the oxidant and produces water as the by-product.

 

1.  E. Vitaku, D. T. Smith and J. T. Njardarson, J. Med. Chem., 2014, 57, 10257–10274.