UC San Diego

CHAPTER 1. This chapter introduces the field of study and motivations steering the direction of development. The topics of catalysis and bifunctional catalysis are discussed.CHAPTER 2. This chapter describes the development of biaryl phosphines containing functionalization with a pendent base for use in gold catalyzed organic reactions. This chapter starts with development of synthetic methods for high efficiency in the synthesis of new iterations on the chemical structure. The use of high throughput screening for reaction discovery is discussed and the result from our trials is discussed. Evaluation of the different ligand candidates is done through NMR spectroscopic studies on two reactions. The first reaction studied is carboxylic acid addition to terminal alkynes. The second reaction studied is isomerization of alkynes. CHAPTER 3. This chapter describes the synthesis of hydrogen-bond-donor-functionalized ferrocenyl bisphosphines, and studies on the coordination chemistry of the novel bisphosphines with platinum and nickel. Development of the synthetic route to yielding the target compounds was necessary, and the major points of concern are discussed. Studies on the coordination chemistry of the ferrocenyl bisphosphines with platinum and nickel are discussed