Jeffrey I. Zink Inorganic Chemistry Seminar Series – Prof. Mei Shen
2025-04-02 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Houk-Jung Organic Colloquium (Chem 247) - Prof. Thomas Strassner
2025-04-03 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222
Title: Blue OLED Emitters: Cyclometalated Platinum- and Iridium NHC Complexes
Abstract: Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays stand out as one of the most important developments in display technology. OLEDs offer vibrant, energy-efficient, and flexible displays utilized in a wide array of products, from smartphones to large-scale television screens. Organometallic complexes are used to enhance the efficiency, color purity, and durability of these displays.
Our research team has been studying heavy metal-based emitters with cyclometalated N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC), so-called C^C* ligands, as they can induce strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) to facilitate the intersystem crossing process from the singlet to triplet excited states, and to promote radiative deactivation from the triplet excited state through phosphorescence with high radiative decay rate constants and photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQY).
This presentation will focus on the synthesis and characterization of mono- and bimetallic luminescent platinum(II) and iridium(III) complexes. As the photophysical properties, efficiencies and stabilities of these phosphorescent emitters strongly depend on the ligand structures we have explored different motifs to fine-tune the photophysical properties. DFT calculations were used to predict promising modifications and to analyze the emissive states.
We recently synthesized novel monometallic C^C* cyclometalated platinum(II) amidinate complexes – previously considered to be inaccessible – as well as photophysically active complexes based on spirobifluorene and spiroxanthene building blocks, which will be discussed in the talk.

Dickerson Biochemistry Seminar Series – Angela Koeberlein and Matthew Krieger – Midstream Presentation
2025-04-04 15:30 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Chem 248 Organic Chemistry Student Seminar: Laura Wagner
2025-04-07 15:00 - 16:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Knobler Lecture: Prof. Ka Yee Lee
2025-04-07 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

CHEM 263: Seminars in Chemical Biology - Prof. Seunghyun Sim
2025-04-08 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Jeffrey I. Zink Inorganic Chemistry Seminar Series – Dr. Jeffrey Blackburn
2025-04-09 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Houk-Jung Organic Colloquium (Chem 247) – Prof. Zhi-Xiang
2025-04-10 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

MACS Careers in Chemistry Seminar Series | Dr. Kolby White | 3M
2025-04-11 16:00 - 17:00 | Young Hall 2033

Chem 248 Organic Chemistry Student Seminar: Lorena Yu Liao
2025-04-14 15:00 - 16:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Physical Chemistry Seminar 228: Prof. Neil Lin
2025-04-14 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

CHEM 263: Seminars in Chemical Biology - Prof. Benita Sjogren
2025-04-15 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Jeffrey I. Zink Inorganic Chemistry Seminar Series – Prof. Marcel Schreier
2025-04-16 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Houk-Jung Organic Colloquium (Chem 247) – Prof. Eric Nacsa
2025-04-17 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222
Title: New Electron-Transfer Concepts in Organic Synthesis
Abstract: The Nacsa Group uses electron transfer techniques to address challenges in organic synthesis. Our lab works in two main areas. The first uses electrochemistry to develop new approaches for dehydration reactions, such as the synthesis of amides and esters from carboxylic acids, with an emphasis on catalysis. Dehydrative transformations are workhorse operations in pharmaceutical R&D, but owing to the wasteful reagents overwhelmingly used to accomplish them, industry has long called for methods that avoid these reagents. We have identified new electrochemical strategies for the substitution of carboxylic acids that meet these demands. Our second program leverages radical-mediated migration events, usually initiated by photoinduced electron transfer, as key design elements in complexity-generating transformations. We have shown that olefin difunctionalizations underpinned by this approach can access product classes and achieve stereoselectivities that have otherwise proven challenging or impossible. More recently, we have discovered a novel and enabling methods for metal-free amination of aromatics from sulfonamides.

Dickerson Biochemistry Seminar Series – Maya Cornejo and Shervin Sadeghi Nia – Midstream Presentation
2025-04-18 15:30 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

MACS Careers in Chemistry Seminar Series | Dr. Crystal Shih Byers | Curie.Bio
2025-04-18 16:00 - 17:00 | Young Hall 2033

CHEM 263: Seminars in Chemical Biology - Rebecca Jenkins
2025-04-22 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Jeffrey I. Zink Inorganic Chemistry Seminar Series – Prof. Raul Sanchez Hernandez
2025-04-23 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Houk-Jung Colloquium (Chem 247) - Prof. Marvin Parsram
2025-04-24 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222
Title: Anaerobic Heteroatom Transfer Reactions Promoted by Photoexcited 1,3-Dipoles
Abstract: Heteroatom units, such as carbonyls, alcohols, and amines, are prevalent motifs in many medicinally important compounds. Methods to incorporate these important functional groups at the expense of hydrocarbons rely on the use of non-commercial heteroatom transfer agents, precious transition metals, and/or costly engineered enzymes. Also, these methods often require exogenous oxidants to promote the C–heteroatom bonding event, which greatly limits substrate scope. Our laboratory focuses on the employment of economical 1,3-dipoles as versatile reagents that can serve as the hydrocarbon activator and the heteroatom atom source for the heteroatom incorporation of aliphatic systems under benign visible-light irradiation. Our contributions involve the cleavage of alkenes leading to valuable carbonyl derivatives and the direct C–H oxidation of hydrocarbons via anaerobic oxygen-atom transfer from photoexcited nitroarenes. Using photoexcited azoxys, an anaerobic nitrogen atom transfer event can occur leading to the aziridination of alkenes. Mechanistic studies reveal that the 1,3-dipoles are the sole photo-absorbing species, which leads to the formation of diradical intermediates that are responsible for heteroatom transfer events.

MACS Careers in Chemistry Seminar Series | Dr. Joyann Barber | Pfizer
2025-04-25 16:00 - 17:00 | Young Hall 2033

Chem 248 Organic Chemistry Student Seminar: Miranda Li
2025-04-28 15:00 - 16:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Physical Chemistry Seminar 228: Prof. Andrew Musser
2025-04-28 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Jeffrey I. Zink Inorganic Chemistry Seminar Series – Prof. Mu-Hyun Baik
2025-04-29 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Chem 263: Seminars in Chemical Biology - Kaitlin Hartung
2025-04-29 16:00 - 17:30

Jeffrey I. Zink Inorganic Chemistry Seminar Series – Prof. Holger Kleinke
2025-04-30 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Houk-Jung Organic Colloquium (Chem 247)-- Prof. Donna Huryn
2025-05-01 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222
Title: Development of Allosteric Inhibitors of VCP/ p97 to Interrogate Novel Biology and Fuel Cancer Drug Discovery
Abstract: Clinical success in targeting the protein degradation pathway using proteasome inhibitors has spurred efforts to evaluate other aspects of this system as approaches to cancer therapy. Among those, the AAA ATPase, p97/ VCP, a master regulator of protein homeostasis, has recently emerged as a promising target. While there is pre-clinical validation that inhibition of p97 will have anti-tumor effects, a number of key questions still remain about its potential as a target for therapeutic efficacy, as well as its fundamental biology. Through the auspices of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Chemical Biology Consortium, we developed multiple series of novel, potent allosteric inhibitors of p97. We solved the first high-resolution structure of p97 bound to an inhibitor using cryo-electron microscopy, and are using our molecules to decipher the complex biology of p97 and to develop new experimental therapeutics.

Dickerson Biochemistry Seminar Series – Theodosia Bartashevitch and Erin Kim – Midstream Presentation
2025-05-02 15:30 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

MACS Careers in Chemistry Seminar Series | Dr. John-Paul Cherry | Patterson + Sheridan LLP
2025-05-02 16:00 - 17:00 | Young Hall 2033

Physical Chemistry Seminar 228: Prof. Andrea Liu
2025-05-05 16:00 - 17:00 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222

Chem 263: Seminars in Chemical Biology - Jess Soule
2025-05-06 16:00 - 17:30 | Collaboratory Yoo Seminar & Conference Hall YH4222
