Lecture: «Group 11 metal-catalysts toward molecular complexity»
This lecture will show the capabilities of families of coordination or organometallic compounds of the coinage metals (Cu, Ag, Au) as catalysts for the conversion of simple and available substrates in more complex molecules. Examples will include selective nitrene reactions to olefin or alkynes leading to dihydropyridines, oxazoles, iso-thiazoles or sphingosine precursors. Also, some carbene-transfer reactions leading to the enantioselective synthesis of borylcyclopropanes or the selective alkylation of aromatic substrates will be presented.
About the speaker
Pedro J. Pérez received a B. Sc. (Licenciatura) in Chemistry from Universidad de Sevilla in 1987 and later a Ph. D. degree from the same University in 1991 under the direction of Prof. Ernesto Carmona. As a Fulbright Scholar, he then joined Prof. Brookhart’s group at UNC -Chapel Hill (USA). He started an appointment as Assistant Professor at the Universidad de Huelva (Spain), where he has been promoted several times until the current Professorship in Inorganic Chemistry (since 2005).
Prof. Perez’s work is devoted to the development of late transition-metal complexes as catalysts for transformations involving hydrocarbons. Several catalytic systems have been described for the selective cyclopropanation of olefins and the catalytic functionalization of unreactive alkanes, among others. The latter has been achieved by means of the metal catalyzed transfer of carbene, nitrene or oxo units to the alkane or arene C-H bond. Also, novel reactions toward the synthesis of oxazoles, triazoles or dihidropyridines have emerged from his lab.