The aim of the work is to synthesise novel compounds using multi-component reactions. The UGI reaction (according to Ivar Ugi) is a variant in which an oxo component (ketone or aldehyde), an amine, an isonitrile and a carboxylic acid component form a bisamide.


Another multi-component reaction is the PASSERINI reaction. Here, an α-hydroxycarboxamide is formed from an oxo component (ketone or aldehyde), a carboxylic acid and an isocyanide in a one-pot reaction.


One focus of the work is the use of reactants with terminal olefin groups in the residues R1 to R5.
Subsequent to these syntheses, the aim is to synthesise α,ß-unsaturated heterocycles by means of ring closure metathesis catalysed by a ruthenium catalyst. The aim here is to synthesise rings of different memberedness.
Selected publications A. Schwäblein, J. Martens: First Synthesis of α ,β-Unsaturated Lactones with High Diversity through the Passerini Reaction and Ring-Closing Metathesis (RCM), Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2011, 4335-4344. (DOI:10.1002/ejoc.201100160)