During the course of a ten-week international research experience through the American Chemical Society, I had the opportunity to investigate the efficacy of heterogeneous palladium catalysts in the Catellani reaction while being immersed in Italian culture and doing my best to learn the language. Overall, this experience allowed me to gain a global perspective both in my personal life and within the realm of scientific research. While in the laboratory, we found that use of Pd EnCat® 30 and Pd/Al<sub>2</sub>O&lt;span style="font-size:10.8333px; line-height:17.3333px"&gt;3&lt;/span&gt; as catalysts led to fairly high yields and good selectivity (41-79%), though leaching of palladium into solution poses an issue for the contamination of the final product. In addition, γ-valerolactone, a chemical derived from lignocellulosic biomass, was shown to be a sustainable solvent suitable to replace classical organic media for this reaction.

Beyond chromatography: Investigating the catellani reaction in the Italian countryside

251st National Meeting (2016)

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