Our group’s central goal is to discover new concepts in base-promoted reactivity as a means to advance synthetic chemistry. For example, while base-promoted reactions typically accomplish redox neutral transformations, such as the addition of pronucleophiles to electrophiles, we have identified general strategies for base-promoted oxidative and reductive coupling reactions. This talk will discuss the development of these strategies in the context of two methods: the oxidative coupling of arenes with nucleophiles and the reductive defluorinative coupling of trifluoromethylarenes with electrophiles. The mechanistic frameworks of these methods will be compared to traditional base-promoted protocols to demonstrate unique capabilities and broad synthetic potential.
Jeff Bandar (Colorado State University)