32 research outputs found
Nickel-Catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura Cross-Coupling in a Green Alcohol Solvent for an Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory
A modern undergraduate organic chemistry
laboratory experiment
involving the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling is reported. Although
Suzuki–Miyaura couplings typically employ palladium catalysts
in environmentally harmful solvents, this experiment features the
use of inexpensive nickel catalysis, in addition to a “green”
alcohol solvent. The experiment employs heterocyclic substrates, which
are important pharmaceutical building blocks. Thus, this laboratory
procedure exposes students to a variety of contemporary topics in
organic chemistry, including transition metal-catalyzed cross-couplings,
green chemistry, and the importance of heterocycles in drug discovery,
none of which are well represented in typical undergraduate organic
chemistry curricula. The experimental protocol uses commercially available
reagents and is useful in both organic and inorganic instructional
laboratories