Aniya Hayes
MIT Department:
Faculty Mentor: Prof. Stephen Buchwald
Research Supervisor: James Law
Undergraduate Institution: Norfolk State University
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Website: LinkedIn
Biography
Aniya Hayes is from Boston, MA. She is a rising junior at Norfolk State University (NSU) studying Chemistry as a Dozoretz National Institute for Mathematics and Applied Sciences (DNIMAS) scholar. At NSU, Aniya is a peer mentor to incoming freshmen and the Fundraising Chair for the American Chemical Society (ACS). She is also a student researcher at The Consortium for Research and Education in Materials Science and Photonics Engineering (NoVEL). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aniya founded sMaSh, LLC (Smashing Math and Science Head-On), a virtual tutoring and summer enrichment program to address the academic challenges and negative stereotypes that BIPOC girls experience in STEM. In the Summer of 2023, Aniya completed an internship with the Massachusetts Police State Crime Lab. This year, she had the pleasure of working in Dr. Stephen Buchwald’s Lab under Dr. James Law. Following her undergraduate studies, Aniya plans to pursue a PhD in Organic Chemistry with the goal of becoming a forensic toxicologist. In her spare time Aniya is a competitive dancer, enjoys drawing, and spending time with friends and family.
Abstract
Olefin Hydroarylation Enabled by Strain Release
Aniya Hayes1, Dr. James Law2, and Dr. Stephen Buchwald2
1Department of Chemistry, Norfolk State University
2Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Buchwald Lab at MIT has proposed a new method for the hydroarylation of cyclic alkenes in expanding the utility of copper hydride catalysis. This study can uncover the fundamental requirements of strain and ligand structure which enable the engagement of cyclic alkanes in hydrofunctionalization reactions. Copper hydride catalysis is useful for constructive enantioenriched small molecules, but Copper hydride is limited to cyclic alkenes. Therefore this summer through the MIT Summer Research Project we aim to enhance the scope of this methodology to include strained cyclic alkenes. To develop this process, we utilized a suite of cyclic alkenes which differ in strain energy, in order to engage in hydroaryaltions with oxidative addition complexes. After uncovering the strain requirements, we rendered the arylation catalytic in palladium. A convenient procedure was able to be developed which allows for the enatioselective hydroarylation of strained alkenes in an acceptable yield. The result of this allows us to use copper hydride in reactions with cyclic alkenes.
