Assistant professor Jen Dabrowski presented her research on conversion of biorenewable resources to fine chemicals at the 67th annual Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SERMACS) in Memphis, TN.
Assistant professor Jen Dabrowski was selected to give an oral presentation entitled “Chemoselective conversion of biologically sourced polyols into chiral synthons” at the 67th annual SERMACS conference held in Memphis, TN. The research was a collaborative project conducted with researchers at UNC Chapel Hill.
Recent attention has been given by scientists and consumers alike to the source of chemicals in commodity products. Traditionally, petroleum sources have been utilized to access fine chemicals; however, use of renewable feedstocks is in high demand. Towards this end, Dabrowski, et. al. have developed a transition metal free method utilizing a catalytic amount of B(C6F5)3 and a stoichiometric tertiary silane reductant to controllably deoxygenate biologically sourced polyols (sugars). Generation of stereo-defined chiral synthons occur in one or two synthetic steps to afford many previously undescribed triols and tetraols of varying structure. One key to controlling the selectivity is the discovery of the involvement of neighboring group participation and cyclic intermediates en route to the products.
SERMACS is the preeminent regional meeting for chemists in the southeast. This particular event combined the southwest region meeting and the southeastern regional meeting of the American Chemical Society to bring together chemists from across the country and included the following subdisciplines: analytical, biological, chemical education, computational, inorganic, medicinal, organic, physical, and polymer chemistry.