# Development of a Single Cobalt Catalyst Strategy for the Direct Arylation and Alkylation of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons

> **NIH NIH F32** · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $51,378

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Transition metal catalysis has been instrumental for the synthesis of molecules that are used by society,
particularly for active pharmaceutical ingredients and other medicinally relevant compounds. Among reactions
that use these catalysts, cross coupling methods that use palladium catalysts have been significantly
transformative for many areas of science. Despite concerns about the toxicity and sustainability of palladium-
based catalysts, these reactions are commonplace in the pharmaceutical industry – both in medicinal and
process chemistry – which is likely a consequence of their robustness, predictability and scalability. Although
many types of cross coupling methods are available, the Suzuki reaction that couples organoboron nucleophiles
with halide and pseudohalide electrophiles is the most commonly used. This fact can be attributed to the
beneficial characteristics that organoboron compounds have over nucleophiles used in other cross coupling
reactions. The ubiquity of Suzuki cross coupling in organic chemistry has made methods for the synthesis of
organoboron compounds particularly valuable. Of these methods, only the Miyaura borylation has been directly
combined with Suzuki cross coupling in a one-pot transformation that uses a single Pd catalyst. This proposal
targets the connection of two classes of cobalt-catalyzed reactions: borylation – specifically arene C–H
borylation and alkene/alkyne hydroboration – and Suzuki cross coupling. First, the mechanism of a terpyridine
cobalt-catalyzed Suzuki cross coupling will be investigated, which will inform catalyst design strategies that aim
to address current limitations of the methodology. The resulting improved protocol for cobalt-catalyzed Suzuki
cross coupling will then be merged with cobalt-catalyzed borylation reactions. The net result of this combination
will be a single cobalt catalyst for the direct arylation and alkylation of unsaturated hydrocarbon substrates.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the advantages that the proposed research has over existing approaches.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9992016
- **Project number:** 1F32GM137552-01
- **Recipient organization:** PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jacob Ludwig
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $51,378
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2020-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9992016

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9992016, Development of a Single Cobalt Catalyst Strategy for the Direct Arylation and Alkylation of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons (1F32GM137552-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9992016. Licensed CC0.

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