Gold and silver catalysis of Carbon-Nitrogen bond formation and cycloaddition reactions

This dissertation describes four research topics all based on the catalytic reactivity of silver and gold complexes. Chapter I details work towards the development of a silver catalyzed nitrene transfer reaction with high activity for benzylic and even alkyl C-H bonds. Chapter II describes the development of a gold(III) catalyzed aryl C-N bond formation. Chapter III describes the synthesis and exploitation of a new diaziridine molecule for use in gold(I) catalyzed cycloaddition chemistry with terminal alkynes. Chapter IV describes efforts toward the natural product synthesis of oligomers based on the resveratrol molecule.