Date of Submission

Spring 2019

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Chemistry

Project Advisor 1

Emily McLaughlin

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Cyclobutane rings can be found in many different natural and artificial small molecules but the high ring strain associated the 4-membered ring makes their preparation difficult. Most commonly, cyclobutanes are formed through the [2+2] cycloaddition of two alkenes, which is forbidden under thermal conditions, but is photochemically allowed. UV light catalyzed reactions have several drawbacks including the production of unwanted side products and potential decomposition of desired products. This work reports the use of an iridium transition metal catalyst to promote [2+2] cycloadditions of vinylogous ester compounds under lower energy visible light. These reactions offer modest yields and excellent regio- and diastereoselectivity. Absorption and phosphorescence data are reported for targeted substrates, reagents, catalysts, and additives to help elucidate the mechanism of these cycloadditions, which is believed to proceed via triplet energy transfer from the metal catalyst to a conjugate organic substrate.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.

Bard Off-campus Download

Bard College faculty, staff, and students can login from off-campus by clicking on the Off-campus Download button and entering their Bard username and password.

Share

COinS