SYNTHETIC STRATEGIES

Radical-chain reactions provide an enormous range of versatile and selective chemical transformations that have been applied to key industrial processes like polymerizations and oxidations, as well as for atom or group transfers, radical cascades and redox processes. The radical reagent tris(trimethylsilyl)silane developed by Dr. Chatgilialoglu has proved an efficient, non-toxic reagent that equals, or exceeds in some applications, the gold-standard (but toxic) reagent tributyltin hydride; for this discovery Dr. Chatgilialoglu was awarded the Fluka “Reagent of the Year 1990” Prize. Our group has world-standard expertise in radical synthesis, physical-organic chemistry, and has expanded radical synthesis into aqueous systems for Greener, more sustainable procedures for pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Full facilities are available for radical generation by photolysis and γ-radiolysis, and for analysis of the products. The kinetics and thermodynamics of radical reactions can be followed via the radical intermediates using time-resolved spectroscopy methods. Pulse-radiolysis studies are carried out in collaboration with other European groups with pulse radiolysis facilities.

Our recent research in this field has been dedicated to the following topics:

·         Modification of biomolecules for chemical-biology studies: synthesis of modified oligonucleotide sequences, modified lipids and modified amino acids to be used also as molecular libraries in the free radical stress studies;

  • Methodologies of radical reactivity in aqueous environment mediated by (Me3Si)3SiH for functional group transformations.

Review:

Thirty Years of (TMS)3SiH: A Milestone in Radical-Based Synthetic Chemistry.
Chatgilialoglu, C.; Ferreri, C.; Landais, Y.; Timokhin, VI. Chem Rev. 2018, 118,  6516-6572.

Recent Publications:

Hydrogen Sulfide: A Reagent for pH-Driven Bioinspired 1,2-Diol Mono-deoxygenation and Carbonyl Reduction in Water.
Barata-Vallejo, S.; Ferreri, C.; Golding, BT.; Chatgilialoglu, C. Org Lett. 2018, 20,  4290-4294.

Radical Arene Addition vs. Radical Reduction: Why Organometal-hydride Chain Reactions Stop and How to Make Them Go
Bowry, V. W.; Chatgilialoglu, C. J. Org. Chem. 201883, DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.8b01387

The reaction of thiyl radical with methyl linoleate: completing the picture
Chatgilialoglu, C.; Ferreri,, C.; Guerra, M.; Samadi, A.; Bowry, V. W. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017139, 4704–4714. 

 

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