Tags: Organic Seminar


Aza-Diels–Alder Reactions of Furans

Diels–Alder (DA) reactions featuring furan as diene have often been plagued with a variety of challenges due to the ease of reversibility.[1] Factors that contribute to this trend stem from a large HOMO–LUMO gap between furan and the dienophile as well as the greater ring-strain of the newly furnished oxa-norbornene cycloadduct in contrast to cyclopentadiene, its carbo-congener. To address these shortcomings, highly activated furans and/or…


Research Seminar: Weihao Ma


Development and Applications of Ring-Closing Alkyne Metathesis (RCAM) in Natural Product Synthesis

Ring-closing alkyne metathesis (RCAM) has received considerable attention over the last 20 years for its utility in synthesizing macrocycles[1]. While its more widely studied counterpart—alkene metathesis—has become a cornerstone of modern synthetic methodology for macrocycle formation, alkyne metathesis remains comparatively unexplored[2]. However, recent studies have highlighted the synthetic potential of cycloalkynes as versatile…


Guest Speaker: Prof. Andy Thomas


Guest Speaker: Prof. Daniel Weix


Methods for Late-Stage Functionalization of N-heterocycles via Nitrogen Insertion

Late-stage functionalization, a transformative strategy in medicinal chemistry, enables precise modification of molecular frameworks through atom insertion, deletion, or exchange, offering rapid access to novel pharmacophores and enhancing drug discovery efforts. Nitrogen-containing heterocycles, such as indoles, pyrroles, and pyridines, are pivotal in pharmaceuticals.[1] Yet, existing methods for their diversification by nitrogen insertion…


Guest Speaker: Prof. Marvin Parasram


New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis

Radical reactions have enjoyed widespread applications in both small molecule and macromolecule synthesis. However, it remains challenging to control the stereochemistry of radical transformations and to discover novel modes of radical catalysis which are not known in either organic chemistry or biochemistry. Combining synthetic chemistry, enzymology and protein engineering, our group advanced two new biocatalytic strategies for stereoselective…


Recent Total Syntheses of Vinigrol

Vinigrol, a natural product first isolated in 1987, has been studied extensively due to its unique structure and biological properties, including antihypertensive and platelet aggregation-inhibiting effects. Vinigrol has a unprecedented 6-6-8 tricyclic ring system with an axial four-carbon bridge, eight contiguous stereocenters, and a strained bicyclo[5.3.1]undecane ring similar to taxol. A combination of the complex structure and impressive…


α,β-Unsaturated Platinum Carbenes: New Avenues for Diverse Heterocycle Synthesis

The development of catalytic complexity-building transformations is essential to efficient synthetic design.1  The capacity of a single catalyst to induce multiple bond-forming events can facilitate the rapid construction of molecules of interest. Due to the abundance of heterocycles in pharmaceutical agents and natural products, heterocyclizations coupled to additional processes can be advantageous toward the synthesis of medicinally…
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