StackPhos: From Structural Curiosity to Enantioselective Catalysis

The development of new chiral ligands for enantioselective catalysis continues to be an important research area as the products impact a broad range of disciplines driven by organic synthesis. Our group has been involved in designing chiral biaryl P,N-ligands that incorporate a 5-membered heterocycle into the biaryl backbone. This lecture will describe the design and implementation of StackPhos, an imidazole-based P,N-ligand with unique ligation properties and catalytic activity. Additionally, recent results from my laboratory on new ligand congeners and enantioselective transformations will be presented.
Aaron Aponick (University of Florida)