Metathesis Reactions as the Basis for Construction of Aromatic Compounds: Application to Both Methodology and Synthesis

Chemistry is a dynamic subject that is at the centre of many different scientific advances. Organic chemistry is concerned with the reactivity of carbon in all its different forms and can be viewed as the chemistry taking place within living things. Chemists are constantly looking for new ways of designing and building molecules (synthetic chemistry is molecular architecture) and this proposal describes a short and powerful new way of making valuable molecules using a new type of catalyst. The molecules at the heart of the proposal are aromatic compounds which have special properties and are the building blocks of most known pharmaceutical agents. Therefore, it is imperative that we have novel, efficient and powerful methods for making new aromatic compounds so that we can study and use them. In addition, the development of new catalysts is also important because it makes chemical reactions run faster, cleaner and with less waste: this is clearly a good thing for industry and also for the environment.