# Catalytic Platforms Using Aromatic Ions and Other Charged Species

> **NIH NIH R35** · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $472,045

## Abstract

Project Summary. Chemical catalysis has long been a potent force for advancing biomedical research by
enabling the construction of biologically important molecules with ever-increasing speed, efficiency, and
versatility. One of the most potent driving forces for progress in the area of catalysis has been the discovery of
new catalytic platforms and concepts. The proposed research program is broadly focused on advancing the
area of catalysis through the development of novel catalytic platforms that utilize stable but electrically charged
species as a key part of their molecular anatomy. In particular, we have employed aromatic ions such as
cyclopropenium ion and cyclopentadienyl anion for the design of several highly effective catalyst platforms.
For example, we introduced cyclopropenimines as a new class of strong, neutral superbase, and we have
developed a number of chiral cyclopropenimines that have proven to be highly effective for enantioselective
BrØnsted base catalyzed transformations. Moving forward, the major challenge in this area is to develop
catalysts that are capable of engaging substrates of increasingly lower acidity while still maintaining control
over stereoselectivity. Our continuing efforts are thus aimed at developing fundamentally new BrØnsted base
platforms that will address this challenge. A second major application of aromatic ions that we have introduced
is the pentacarboxycyclopentadienes (PCCPs) as a new platform for enantioselective BrØnsted acid catalysis.
These catalysts are strongly acidic and are simple to prepare and to diversify, which stands in contrast to many
of the established chiral BrØnsted acid platforms. In this area, the forefront challenge lies in learning how to
generate and control the selectivity of increasingly unstabilized carbocation intermediates. Solving this
challenge will require catalysts that are strongly acidic, chiral, and trivial to prepare, criteria which are very well
satisfied by the PCCP platform. These and other investigations into the use of ionic structures to catalysis will
continue to serve as a stimulus for advancements in chemical synthesis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9949720
- **Project number:** 5R35GM127135-03
- **Recipient organization:** CORNELL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Tristan H Lambert
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $472,045
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9949720

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9949720, Catalytic Platforms Using Aromatic Ions and Other Charged Species (5R35GM127135-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9949720. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*