Melchiorre

Research group


Abstract

The group’s research interests are broadly based on the use of enantioselective organocatalysis (which involves only organic elements in the active principle) for the preparation of chiral molecules. Our strategy relies on the combination metal-free enantioselective organocatalysis and visible light photocatalysis, two powerful strategies of modern chemical research with extraordinary potential for the sustainable preparation of organic molecules. The main focus is on the discovery and mechanistic elucidation of new enantioselective organocatalytic and photochemical processes that address unsolved problems in synthetic methodology. The final aim is to develop environmentally friendly and innovative catalytic methods that can find widespread use in modern organic synthesis.

Topics addressed

  • Enantioselective Photo-organocatalysis
  • Sustainable preparation of organic molecules

Articles

“X-Ray Characterization of an EDA Complex which Drives the Photochemical Alkylation of Indoles”
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2015) 54, 1485–1489
Sandeep R. Kandukuri, Ana Bahamonde, Indranil Chatterjee, Igor D. Jurberg, Eduardo C. Escudero-Adán, Paolo Melchiorre

“Photochemical Direct Perfluoroalkylation of Phenols”
Tetrahedron (2015) 71, 4535–4542
Giacomo Filippini, Manuel Nappi, Paolo Melchiorre

“Computational Study with DFT and Kinetic Models on the Mechanism of Photoinitiated Aromatic Perfluoroalkylations”
Org. Lett. (2015) 17, 2676−2679
Victor M. Fernández-Alvarez, Manuel Nappi, Paolo Melchiorre, Feliu Maseras

“Photo-organocatalytic Enantioselective Perfluoroalkylation of β-Ketoesters”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2015) 137, 5678–5681
Łukasz Woźniak, John J. Murphy, Paolo Melchiorre

“Enantioselective Organocatalytic Alkylation of Aldehydes and Enals Driven by the Direct Photoexcitation of Enamines”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2015) 137, 6120–6123
Mattia Silvi, Elena Arceo, Igor D. Jurberg, Carlo Cassani, Paolo Melchiorre

“Diastereodivergent Organocatalysis for the Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Annulated Furans”
Chem. Sci. (2015) 6, 4242–4246
Charlie Verrier, Paolo Melchiorre

“Light Opens Pathways for Nickel Catalysis”
Nature (2015) 524, 297-298 (News & Views)
John J. Murphy, Paolo Melchiorre