Professor Sara Martin, Chemistry Department
Project Description
A recent paper published by Zaugg and colleagues has detailed an efficient way to make 2-quinolinones from anilines. Their paper includes some products that are substituted at the 7-position, but each of those products has additional substituents at other sites around the heterocyclic ring. I have been working with student researchers to investigate whether we can use meta-substituted anilines in these reactions to generate 2-quinolinones that are substituted only at the 7-position. Preliminary results indicate that yields and selectivities depend on the nature of the aniline substrate, but that 7-substituted products are preferred. Future work on this project includes expanding the substrate scope to include ether-bearing substrates and investigating whether we can identify milder reaction conditions so that a broader scope of functional groups can be tolerated in these reactions.
Prerequisite Classes/Skills Required
Completion of CHEM 112 and CHEM 211 is required. The student must be concurrently enrolled in or have already completed CHEM 212. The student researcher should be interested in developing skills in organic synthesis techniques and in oral/written communication.
Time expectations
6 hours per week for 14 weeks