个人简介

Robert received his MSci in Chemistry from Imperial College London in 2006, working with Prof. Alan Spivey. He moved to the University of Cambridge to complete his PhD (2010) with Prof. Matthew Gaunt on the development of new copper-catalysed arylation reactions. In 2011, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley on a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship with Prof. F. Dean Toste in the area of asymmetric fluorination using chiral phosphoric acid catalysts. In 2013 he returned to Cambridge for the return year of the Marie Curie Fellowship and in 2014 he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, which allowed him to commence independent research from October 2014. He was a Thieme Chemistry Journal Award recipient in 2016 and in 2017 was awarded an ERC Starting Grant.

研究领域

Synthesis

Non-covalent catalysis Our group’s research focusses on incorporating non-covalent interactions into catalyst structure to exert control over various aspects of selectivity in chemical reactions, such as regioselectivity, site-selectivity and enantioselectivity. Non-covalent interactions play fundamentally important roles in the mechanisms of enzyme catalysis and form the basis of the field of Supramolecular chemistry. Over the last 20 years, synthetic chemists have begun to realise how powerful they can be in the context of small molecule organocatalysis and numerous advances in this area have occurred, mostly for control of enantioselectivity in two-electron processes. At present, we have two main research directions: 1. Design of novel multi-functional ligands for transition metals which, through interaction of the ligand with the substrate, enable control or regioselectivity or site-selectivity in the ensuing chemical reaction. This is particularly relevant in the area of C-H bond activation where there are numerous reactivity modes available but one of the outstanding challenges in the field is control of the position of reaction. 2. Application of non-covalent catalysis to control enantioselectivity in radical reactions. Radical chemistry is undergoing a resurgence due to the growing use of photoredox catalysis to enable facile radical generation and novel reactivity. One of the outstanding challenges in this area is how to control enantioselectivity in reactions where radical intermediates may be highly reactive, with fast reaction kinetics. We believe that non-covalent catalysis has unique potential to advance this area. More details to follow soon.

近期论文

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Proctor, R. S. J.; Davis, H. J.; Phipps, R. J. Catalytic enantioselective Minisci type addition to heterorenes Science 2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aar6376 Mihai, M. T.; Davis, H. J.; Genov, G. R.; Phipps, R. J. Ion Pair-Directed C-H Activation on Flexible Ammonium Salts: Meta-Selective Borylation of Quaternized Phenethylamines and Phenylpropylamines ACS Catalysis 2018, 8, 3764 - 3769 Mihai, M. T.; Genov, G. R.; Phipps, R. J. Access to the meta position of arenes through transition metal catalysed C–H bond functionalisation: a focus on metals other than palladium (2018 Emerging Investigators Special Issue) Chem. Soc. Rev. 2018, 47, 149-171. Türtscher, P. L.; Davis, H. J.; Phipps, R. J.; Palladium-Catalysed Cross-Coupling of Benzylammonium Salts with Boronic Acids under Mild Conditions (Invited Contribution for Bürgenstock Special Section 2017: Future Stars in Organic Chemistry) Synthesis 2018, 50, 793 - 802 Davis, H. J.; Genov, G. R.; Phipps, R. J. Meta Selective C-H Borylation of Benzylamine, Phenethylamine and Phenylpropylamine-Derived Amides Enabled by a Single Anionic Ligand Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 13351-13355. Montenegro, J.; Phipps, R. J.; Highlights from the 52nd EUCHEM conference on stereochemistry, Bürgenstock, Switzerland, May 2017 Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 9960-9966. Mihai, M. T.; Phipps, R. J.; Ion-Pair-Directed meta-Selective C–H Borylation of Aromatic Quaternary Ammonium Salts (Synpacts Account) Synlett 2017, 28, 1011-1017. Davis, H. J.; Phipps, R. J.; Harnessing Non-Covalent Interactions to Exert Control Over Regioselectivity and Site-Selectivity in Catalytic Reactions Chem. Sci. 2017, 8, 864-877. Davis, H. J.; Mihai, M. T.; Phipps, R. J.; Ion Pair-Directed Regiocontrol in Transition Metal Catalysis: A Meta-Selective C–H Borylation of Aromatic Quaternary Ammonium Salts J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 12759-12762. Phipps, R.J.; Cluster Preface: Non-Covalent Interactions in Asymmetric Catalysis Synlett. 2016, 27, 1024-1026. Beaud, R.; Phipps, R. J.; Gaunt, M.J. Enantioselective Cu-Catalyzed Arylation of Secondary Phosphine Oxides with Diaryliodonium Salts toward the Synthesis of P-Chiral Phosphines. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 13183-13186. Yang, X.; Wu, T.; Phipps, R. J.; Toste, F. D.; Advances in Catalytic Enantioselective Fluorination, Mono-, Di-, and Trifluoromethylation, and Trifluoromethylthiolation Reactions. Chem. Rev. 2015, 115, 826-870. Tissot, M.*; Phipps, R.J.*; Lucas, C.*; Leon, R.M.; Pace, R.D.M.; Ngouansavanh, T.; Gaunt, M.J; Gram-scale enantioselective synthesis of the morphinan alkaloids via an ortho-para oxidative biphenol coupling strategy. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 13498, *(Authors contributed equally). Yang, X.*; Phipps, R. J.*; Toste, F. D. Asymmetric Fluorination of a-Branched Cyclohexanones Enabled by a Combination of Chiral Anion Phase-Transfer Catalysis and Enamine Catalysis using Protected Amino Acids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 5225-5528 *(Authors contributed equally). Wu, J.; Wang, Y.; Drljevic, A.; Rauniyar,V.; Phipps, R. J.; Toste, F. D. A combination of directing groups and chiral anion phase-transfer catalysis for enantioselective fluorination of alkenes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2013, 110, 13729-13733 Phipps, R. J.; Toste, F. D. Chiral anion phase-transfer catalysis applied to the direct enantioselective fluorinative dearomatization of phenols J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 1268-1271. Honjo, T.; Phipps, R. J.; Rauniyar, V.; Toste, F. D. A doubly axially chiral phosphoric acid catalyst for the asymmetric tandem oxyfluorination of enamides. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 9684-9688. Phipps, R. J.; Hamilton, G. L.; Toste, F. D. The progression of chiral anions from concepts to applications in asymmetric catalysis. Nature Chem. 2012, 4, 603-614. Phipps, R. J.; Hiramatsu, K.; Toste, F. D. Asymmetric fluorination of enamides: access to a-fluoroimines using an anionic chiral phase-transfer catalyst J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 8376-8379. Phipps, R. J.; McMurray, L. M.; Duong, H. A.; Ritter, S.; Gaunt, M. J. Copper-catalyzed alkene arylation with diaryliodonium salts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 10773-10776.