ADRIEN QUINTARD

In order to find innovative solutions to divers chemistry problems, a part of our work is centered on catalysis. This opens new avenues for the faster construction of molecules with high bioactivity profile such as natural products fragments but also for the development of new smart materials or molecular machines.

.In this context, different catalytic transformations have been developed in order to find solutions to fundamental synthetic problems. In order to build up more efficient transformations, we develop new synthetic methodologies combining widely available and cheap starting materials to transform them simply into valuable building blocks, opening new avenues for the synthesis of molecules of interest with high bioactive profiles. In order to develop the most efficient routes, we do not exclude any catalytic activation modes and instead try to find the best possible strategy from metal catalysis using for example iridium to cheap iron or copper catalysts or applying complementary organocatalysis. Finally, if there is a limitation at using one-single activation mode, we combine the best from two worlds in multicatalysis.  

Aside from the synthesis of natural products scaffolds or bioactive molecules, catalysis can be applied to other fields. Most notably, our group recently transposed some of the catalysis principles to supramolecular chemistry. Catalytic transformations were used to build up new scaffolds for anion binding or supramolecular materials. In addition, catalytic transformations were also used to fuel new molecular machines and smart materials with temporal control.