Development of New Technologies for Sustainable Synthesis of Organic Aldehydes

The preparation of new materials and medicines largely depends on organic synthesis. Chemical knowledge and technology have advanced to the point that, given a sufficient amount of time, money and manpower, it is possible to synthesize almost any desired organic substance. However, some important challenges that remain to be addressed in modern organic synthesis including the improvement of reaction efficiencies, avoidance of toxic agents, and reduction of waste and hazardous byproducts. General solutions to these problems will become increasingly important as chemists strive to develop effective and responsible synthetic methodologies that contribute to sustaining our limited resources without harming our environment. To be useful, sustainable and practical, organic synthesis methods should rely on simple and cost-effective petrochemicals and renewable sources and feedstocks. Visible light promoted photochemical synthesis and catalysis have unrivaled merits in terms the safe, inexpensive, abundant and renewable nature of light which serve to activate these processes. Toward this end, I am particularly interested in developing synthetic technologies for practical preparation of fundamentally important chemicals that are broadly used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry such like aldehydes in visible light promoted photochemical way. My poster will introduce my research in three parts: 1) practical, organocatalytic methods for the synthesis of aldehydes, 2) visible light promoted nickel and organic co-catalyzed formylation reactions of aryl halides and triflates, and vinyl bromides using diethoxyacetic acid as a formyl equivalent, 3) chemo- and regio-selective organo-photoredox catalyzed hydroformylation of styrenes via a radical pathway