PI: Prof Patrick Guiry (UCD)FI: Prof JJ Leahy (UL)Staff: Postdoctorate Researchers:
Dr Balaji Rokade (UCD)

Postgraduate Researchers:
Ayman Hijazi (UL)The aim of the project is to investigate the use of CO2 and syngas (H2/CO) produced from biomass in metal-catalysed, direct and enantioselective carboxylation and carbonylation of styrenes for the production of high value fine chemicals of interest to the pharmaceutical industry. The production of pure CO2 and syngas will require (i) optimisation of pyrolysis, gasification, chemical looping combustion, separation and purification (link to Platform 1 – PP-1 and PP-2) (ii) test a range of ligands to determine both regioselectivity and enantioselectivity; (iii) extend alkene substrates to naturally occurring examples; (iv) apply methodology to compounds of pharmaceutical interest.Publications:Rokade BV, Guiry PJ. Synthesis of α-Aryl Oxindoles by Friedel-Crafts Alkylation of Arenes. J. Org. Chem. 2020, 85, 6172-6180; DOI 10.1021/acs.joc.0c00370
“Synthetic and mechanistic studies in enantioselective allylic substitutions catalysed by palladium complexes of a modular class of axially chiral quinazoline-containing ligands”, Carroll, A. M., McCarthy, M., Lacey, P. M., Saunders, C. P., Connolly, D. J., Farrell, A., Rokade, B. J., Goddard, R., Fristrup, P., Norrby, P.-O., Guiry, P. J. Tetrahedron. 2020, doi.org/10.1016/j.tet.2019.130780.
Connon, R.; Roche, B.; Rokade, B. J.; Guiry, P. J. Further Developments and Applications of Oxazoline-Containing Ligands in Asymmetric Catalysis Chem. Rev. 2021, 121, (11), 6373-6521. doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00844
“Catalytic asymmetric transformations of oxa- and azabicyclic alkenes” Kumar, S. V.; Yen, A.; Lautens, M.; Guiry, P. J. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2021 , 50, 3013-3093.