BIOINSPIRED ASYMMETRIC CATALYSIS AND DIOXYGEN ACTIVATION

Nature has evolved a number of metalloenzymes such as the heme containing and the non-heme containing which are capable of effective and selective catalytic transformations. There has thus been significant interest in modeling such enzyme active sites and developing biomimetic catalysts for green chemistry applications.

For most bioactive chiral compounds, only one enantiomer has the desired activity whereas the other enantiomer is inactive or even detrimental. Thus, enantioselective synthesis of chiral compounds is essential for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Metal complexes with chiral ligands have been found to catalyze with excellent enantioselectivities at low catalyst loadings . The rational design of well-defined, first row transition metal complexes that can activate dioxygen has been a challenging goal. With the growing demand for sustainable and green chemistry, use of bio-mimetic 3d metal complexes for catalytic reactions are alluring research area. The activation of O₂ is important in part because of its central role in the functioning of metalloenzymes, which utilize O₂ to perform a number of challenging reactions including the highly selective oxidation of various substrates. Our Research revolves around utilizing new ligand system for the synthesis of Bio-inspired Asymmetric Catalysis and Dioxygen Activation Using Earth Abundant Transition Metal Complexes and their application in challenging organic reactions.