Professional Science Master's seminar "Methods Development in Organic Chemistry Producing a More Versatile Organocopper Reagent (or 30 Years of Starting Fires and Stinking Up the Lab!" presented by Greg W. Ebert, professor of chemistry.
Organocopper reagents are extremely useful in organic synthesis primarily because of their ability to couple with organic halides and undergo conjugate addition with α, β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. While a wide variety of functionality can be tolerated in the substrate molecules by these reagents, very little functionality can be incorporated into the organocopper compounds themselves because of the organolithium and Grignard precursors commonly used in their production. This talk reviews the development of organocopper reagents produced by the direct oxidative addition of organic halides to an activated form of elemental copper. This approach bypasses the need for organolithium and Grignard precursors, thereby allowing a wide variety of functionality to be incorporated into the organocopper compounds themselves and greatly enhancing the utility of these reagents.
Also: a live demonstration of quantum entanglement and electron tunneling. A most unusual, almost magical, display.
