Welcome to the Didier Group

Our group focuses on the development of new strategies in organic synthesis, with particular interest in four-membered rings and organometallic chemistry. Four-membered ring carbo- and heterocycles have become essential motifs in drug discovery programs. More than offering new chemical space by introducing uncommon building blocks, they allow to escape the flatland of classical aromatic structures oftentimes found in bioactive derivatives throught defined exit vectors for surrounding substituents. Our efforts are directed towards methods to access both parent unsaturated building blocks such as cyclobutenes, azetines and thietes, as well as the full functionalization of 3D-architectures (cyclobutanes, azetidines, thietanes). With a strong expertise in organometallic chemistry, we are interested in creating tools to facilitate modern synthesis through understanding of metal properties and establishment a new organometallic species from the lanthanide series. We have demonstrated the first triple halogen-metal exchanges using organocerium derivatives, which showed exceptional levels of reactivity, selectivity and functional group tolerance. Aiming at creating sustainable methods for organic synthesis, we recently challenged the possibility of performing cross-coupling reactions without the need for expensive, often toxic transition metals. We based our strategy on the intramolecular formation of C-C bonds from organoborate salts, the rearrangement of which can be promoted under electrochemical or photocatalytical oxidative conditions.