Dr A. Lee Status: Lecturer. Office room number: WP 1.21 Phone: +44(0) 131 451 8030 Email: A.Lee@hw.ac.uk Research Group Website: http://www.eps.hw.ac.uk/~al118
	Postal Address: School of EPS - Chemistry Perkin Building Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK	Secretaries: +44(0) 131 451 8020 or 3103 Fax: +44(0) 131 451 3180

 

Our research interests are inter-disciplinary and centre around the areas of organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry and organometallic/asymmetric catalysis. Areas of interest include: 1. Chiral rotaxanes One of the most interesting and yet least exploited features of rotaxanes is chirality – a rotaxane consisting of an asymmetric rotor and asymmetric axis can have cyclochirality, even if both the rotor and axis are themselves achiral. To date, there are no efficient methods for the catalytic enantioselective synthesis of cyclochiral rotaxanes. We are interested in tackling this challenging problem using tools from the field of asymmetric catalysis. 2. Gold Catalysis In the past few years, gold has emerged as a powerful catalyst for the electrophilic activation of alkynes, arenes, allenes and even alkenes. Gold catalysis represents a new frontier in catalysis with scope for further discoveries and development, particularly in the field of asymmetric gold catalysis. We are interested in the development of novel gold catalysed reactions with the aim of expanding the current toolkit of synthetic techniques. We are currently developing novel gold-catalysed reactions with cyclopropenes. 3. N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) Ligands for Asymmetric Catalysis The chemistry of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and in particular their application as ligands, has developed rapidly since the synthesis of the first isolable species in 1991. NHC ligands are active in various transition metal catalysed reactions as well as in organocatalytic reactions. This area holds great promise in terms of the design of novel and modular ligands with different stereochemical topography. We are particularly interested in synthesising new catalysts in order to address reactions that remain problematic and challenging in catalysis.

Recent Publications M. S. Hadfield, A.-L. Lee, Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 484. J. T. Bauer, M. S. Hadfield and A.-L. Lee, Chem. Commun., 2008, 6405. J. D. Crowley, S. M. Goldup, A.-L. Lee, D. A. Leigh and R. T. McBurney, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 1530. J. Berna, S.M. Goldup, A.-L. Lee, D. A. Leigh, M. D. Symes, G. Teobaldi and F. Zerbetto, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 4392. J. D. Crowley, K. Hänni, A.-L. Lee and D.A. Leigh, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 12092. J. Berna, J.D. Crowley, S.M. Goldup, K. Hänni, A.-L. Lee and D.A. Leigh, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 5709.   This presentation comes to you as a "personal communication", due to journal restrictions on prior and parallel publication of results.