Ylid functionalization of carbon suboxide

This project deals with chemical reactions between carbon suboxide and strong carbon-based bases. Carbon suboxide is the bigger relative of carbon dioxide with two more carbon atoms between the outer oxygen atoms which makes it much more reactive. The reactivities of carbon monoxide to common organic molecules have been reported mid-to-end of last century. The reactivity exploration compared to carbon dioxide however is still very poor. Therefore the utilization of carbon suboxide is still very limited. In this project, we will synthesize carbon suboxide and react it with two types of compounds: Metalated ylids and ketenyl anions, whichof both can be classified as nucleophiles with negatively charged carbons. We will isolate adducts between the gaseous molecule and strong carbon nucleophiles and thereby enrich the explored chemical space. Ideally we hope to isolate unique organic molecules that can be used as building blocks for further functionalization such as drug design.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jason Masuda

Student:

Partner:

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

Saint Mary's University

Program: