This June, Professors Heather Maynard and Neil Garg – both New York natives – had the opportunity to return to their roots as plenary speakers at the 49th National Organic Symposium (NOS) and centennial celebration, held in Troy, New York. It is rare for two plenary speakers from the same institution to present at the NOS in the same year, which highlights the research diversity and strength of organic chemistry at UCLA.
The biannual NOS conference, which is sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS), Division of Organic Chemistry, also shares roots in New York – five of the first ten NOS conferences were held in New York or New England. Fittingly, this year’s conference theme was “Return to the Roots.”
Maynard, UCLA’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Endowed Chair in Polymer Science, grew up in Rochester, New York – the site of the first NOS in 1925.
Garg, UCLA’s Distinguished Kenneth N. Trueblood Professor, grew up in Fishkill, New York, close to the site of this year’s conference, and attended New York University (NYU), where he was introduced to organic chemistry.
Both Maynard and Garg also share academic ties to the first NOS conference through their scientific mentors. “We were asked to trace our academic lineage back to the first symposium,” Maynard explained. “I found that my great, great academic grandfather, James F. Norris, attended the first NOS 100 years ago. My Ph.D. advisor, Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs, was trained by Ronald C. Breslow, who trained with Robert B. Woodward, who trained with James F. Norris. My M.S. research advisor, Fred Wudl, also did his postdoc with Robert B. Woodward (who worked with James F. Norris).” Garg’s academic lineage also traces back to James F. Norris.
Maynard’s plenary lecture, titled “Responsive Conjugates for Drug Delivery”, focused on synthetic strategies for drug delivery with a focus on her group’s work in diabetes and pain management.
Garg’s plenary lecture, titled “Strained Intermediates and Chemical Education”, focused on his lab’s research on strained cyclic allenes and anti-Bredt olefins, which Garg’s lab has shown are unconventional, but highly useful synthetic building blocks. He also discussed his lab’s efforts in chemical education and shared a new animation based on his Organic Coloring book series, which is now available on YouTube (link) and brings organic chemistry to the public.
Twelve graduate students and two postdoctoral scholars from UCLA also attended the conference and presented their research. Graduate student Allison Clark (Garg lab) received a poster presentation prize.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
