Abstract: By virtue of their unrivaled selectivity profiles, enzymes possess remarkable potential to address unsolved challenges in chemical synthesis. The realization of this potential, however, has only recently gained traction. Recent advances in enzyme engineering and genome mining have provided a powerful platform for identifying and optimizing enzymatic transformations for synthetic applications and allowed us […]

Abstract: Base-catalyzed reactions typically accomplish redox neutral transformations, such as the addition of pronucleophiles to electrophiles. Our group is developing mechanistic platforms for base-promoted reductive and oxidative coupling reactions to expand the capabilities of basic chemistry. This talk will discuss the development and synthetic potential of these processes in the context of two methodologies. This […]

Abstract: Radical chemistry is an important class of reactions in modern organic synthesis, due to the high reactivity and versatile bond formation and cleavage events that can happen with radical intermediates. One of the current challenges in radical chemistry is to generate these reactive open-shell intermediates from accessible starting materials under mild conditions. We have […]

Abstract: The seminar will describe our efforts towards the development of scalable, mild, and general electrosynthetic methodologies for C–C and C–N/X coupling reactions. These electrosynthetic methodologies are largely possible because of a synergy between redox-active mediators developed by the energy storage community and transition metal catalysts. It will be shown that yields from electrocatalytic reactions […]

Abstract: Our laboratory focuses on the development of small molecule ligands and enzymatic inhibitors of proteins that interact with nucleic acids. We utilize biophysical and biochemical assays to screen chemical libraries to discover protein-binding ligands, which are then optimized using iterative rounds of molecular design, synthesis, and biological evaluation. Our overarching goals are to develop […]

Abstract: The indole diterpenoids constitute a family of natural products that exhibit potent and selective Big Potassium (BK) ion channel inhibition. We have developed a unified synthetic strategy towards the indole diterpenoid class, culminating in the total synthesis of several representative congeners, including paspaline A and emindole PB. Density functional theory calculations are utilized to […]

Abstract: This lecture will describe recent developments in our efforts to develop catalysts for asymmetric reactions, in particular for the preparation of densely functionalized, stereochemically complex structures. Over time, our foci have been on enantioselectivity, site-selectivity and chemoselectivity. In much of our current work, we are studying issues of enantioselectivity as a prelude to the […]

Abstract: Chemical reactivity can be utilized in many ways, including to improve synthetic access to new molecules and to devise tools to advance biomedicine. ‘Synthesis and catalysis’ are two themes interwoven throughout this presentation, which describes 1) the development of short synthetic routes to (–)-picrotoxinin, (–)-picrotin, and 5-methyl-picrotoxinin enabled by a late-stage strong-bond activation strategy for […]

Abstract: Detailed understanding of catalytic transformations is key to designing better catalysts and overcome pertinent challenges in synthesis. This talk will give insights on case studies and reactivity designs recently undertaken in our laboratory. The focus will be on multinuclear metal catalysis for the chemoselective and modular construction of molecules, the exploration of organogermanes in […]

"The development and targeting of epigenetic drugs for therapeutic benefit" Abstract: The talk will comprise two interconnected parts describing the development and targeting of epigenetic drugs for the treatment of disease.  The development of bromodomain ligands for the treatment of disease: bromodomains, protein modules that ‘read’ of lysine acetylation state, have emerged as important therapeutic […]

“Phosphorus-Oriented” Method Development and Total Synthesis Abstract: The lecture will describe the design, development and applications of new synthetic methods based upon phosphorus(V) reagents and catalysts. Topics will include catalytic halogenation, hydroxyl activation and the total synthesis of polychlorinated and trimeric phenol-derived natural products.