Our group has developed an inexpensive ligand that generates a variety of stable tetradentate metal complexes. Given their tetradentate nature, these complexes are chiral-at-metal, making them excellent candidates for asymmetric Lewis acid catalysis. Specifically, these structures act as electron pair acceptors to increase the reactivity of achiral reactants as an alternate to more expensive catalysts. Given the incredible activity of chiral cobalt complexes as Lewis acid catalysts, we started by synthesizing a chiral tetradentate cobalt catalyst, which we then tested for activation of a variety of Lewis basic substrates. This poster outlines our results and suggests future modifications to the catalyst to improve reactivity.

Synthesis and evaluation of a tetradentate chiral cobalt (II) complex as a Lewis acid catalyst

251st National Meeting (2016)

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