Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for stereoselective or regioselective chemical synthesis which generally comprises reacting a nucleophile and a chiral or prochiral cyclic substrate in the presence of a non-racemic chiral catalyst to produce a stereoisomerically or regioselectively enriched product.

Abstract: The subject invention features substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds, libraries of substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds, and methods of synthesis thereof. For example, the present invention provides methods for synthesizing substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds, and is particularly amenable to the generation of libraries of substituted N- heteroaromatic compounds by combinatorial chemistry. The methods of the invention generally feature the reaction of O-linked heteroaromatic N-oxides with nucleophiles to produce substituted N-heteroaromatic compounds.

Abstract: A method for preparing an aryl ether compound is provided in which an alcohol is reacted with an aromatic compound in the presence of a base, and a transition metal catalyst selected from the group consisting of platinum and nickel to form an aryl ether. The aromatic compound comprises an activated substituent, X, said activated substituent being a moiety such that its conjugate acid HX has a pKa of less than 5.0. The catalyst is preferably a soluble palladium complex in the presence of supporting ligands.