The need for environmentally benign methodology to perform reactions in organic chemistry is continuously increasing, in order to minimize health and climate effects caused by the chemical industry. The use of heavy metal-mediated reactions is troublesome, but alternative methodology is often lacking.
This STIAS project will focus on the investigation of hypervalent iodine-mediated reactions in organic synthesis. Hypervalent iodine reagents are non-toxic and have potential to become the reagents of choice in a wide variety of transformations both from environmental reasons and efficiency of the reactions. The aim is to investigate the development of reactions catalytic in hypervalent iodine reagent, and other means to minimize the amount of waste produced in their applications in the synthesis of complex natural products and in the pharmaceutical industry. Possible collaborations in South Africa will also be explored.
