Prof. Matt S. Sigman

Professor Sigman gave the 2^nd Liebig-College seminar and lectures on 

Modern Approaches to Catalyst Optimization and Interrogation

Abstract:

Chemists are often guided by incredible intuition when predicting the outcomes of new chemical reactions.  This is based on wisdom and a fundamental understanding of reactivity.  However, while this approach drives the majority of reaction development in our field, the reality is that we rely significantly on optimizing reactions for a desired outcome.  While a routine process, optimization protocols can cause a considerable investment of time and do not always provide an adequate solution.  Therefore, we have aimed to develop a program that facilitates more rapid analysis of chemical reactions to reveal not only better systems, but also the underlying reasons for improved performance of either a substrate or catalyst in a given reaction.  The seminar will outline how we have put into practice a method that combines the foundational promise of physical organic chemistry with modern “big data” analysis tools to ultimately precisely predict the performance of new reaction components.