Research Projects

Donor-acceptor cyclopropanes (DACs) are crucial in modern organic synthesis due to their versatile reactivity, which includes annulations, rearrangements, and ring-opening reactions. This study aims to explore the reactivity of six different types of DACs with additional activating substituents, aiming to discover new reactions and obtain useful products. The study will synthesize DACs with indanone and indanedione units, subject them to Lewis acid-mediated rearrangement reactions, and investigate (3+3) annulation reactions of aroyl-substituted DACs with non-benzenoid aromatics, tropolone, and Kojic acid. Nitro-substituted DACs will be exploited for heterocycle synthesis, particularly using water as a green solvent. New DACs suitable for arylative ring-opening from formyl-substituted DACs will be synthesized, providing access to biologically relevant tetrahydroquinoline and chromane frameworks. The Nazarov cyclization method will be studied for cyclopentenone/cyclopentanone derivatives, and visible-light mediated photocatalytic reactions of 1-aryl-2,3-diaroyl-cyclopropanes will be explored. The project will provide opportunities to explore new reactivities of different DACs and generate a large number of carbocycles and heterocycles with potential biological applications.