Summary: | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 2007. === Vita. === Includes bibliographical references. === Nickel-Catalyzed Reductive Coupling Reactions of Aldehydes and Chiral 1,6-Enynes. A study of nickel-catalyzed reductive coupling reactions of aldehydes and chiral 1,6-enynes has provided evidence for stereospecific ligand substitution from a planar three-coordinate nickel species as a plausible explanation of regioselectivity in the nickel-catalyzed reductive coupling of aldehydes and 1,6-enynes. In the absence of a phosphine additive, high regioselectivity and high diastereoselectivity are obtained as a direct result of coordination of both the alkyne and the olefin to the metal center during the C-C bond-forming step. ... Total Synthesis of (+)-Acutiphycin. Synthetic studies toward the total synthesis of (+)-acutiphycin led to, and were in turn further developed by, the study of nickel-catalyzed reductive coupling reactions of 1,6-enynes and aldehydes. ... Ultimately, though not employing the nickel-catalyzed reaction, a highly convergent total synthesis of (+)-acutiphycin featuring an intermolecular SmI2-mediated Reformatsky coupling reaction and macrolactonization initiated by a retro-ene reaction of an alkoxyalkyne was developed. The resulting synthesis was 18 steps in the longest linear sequence from either methyl acetoacetate or isobutyraldehyde. ... === by Ryan Thomas McLeod Moslin. === Ph.D.
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