Our research group uses free radicals in organic synthesis for a wide variety of applications.
Free radicals are generally highly reactive, transient intermediates.
Their use allows reactions to be carried out under mild conditions, and opens access to transformations which are often unavailable by more traditional methods. The control of stereochemistry using free radical intermediates has been one of the focuses of our group. In this work, we are studying the facial selectivity of prochiral carbon radicals reacting with chiral nitroxides. Nitroxides are kinetically persistent, often isolable free radicals which couple effectively with carbon free radicals. We have developed several syntheses of chiral nitroxides.