Event

Dr. Alison Wendlandt

MIT

"Selective Catalytic Isomerization Reactions"

Abstract: Selective isomerization reactions are valuable tools for the positional and stereochemical interconversion of functional groups. Catalytic isomerizations are frequently governed by thermodynamic control, enabling predictable access to product distributions defined by the stability of starting and product isomers, but limiting opportunities for tunable control. This seminar describes our efforts to identify new strategies to promote kinetically controlled contra-thermodynamic isomerization reactions in diverse synthetic contexts. Through two case studies, we reveal a common mechanistic framework for such processes, and showcases how the strategic application of these reactions in a late stage setting can facilitate the construction of complex organic molecules.

Research

We are excited about developing new catalytic methods for selective organic transformations. Although we are excited to explore any area our chemistry and imagination takes us, lately our interest has been captured by new redox-neutral editing approaches to organic synthesis—particularly those utilizing mild and selective radical chemistry. In identifying important chemical problems, we position ourselves to unravel new mechanisms using a strong background in physical organic techniques, framed by meaninful applications, such as in the synthesis of bio-relevant molecules.

Bio: Alison Wendlandt is currently the Green CD Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alison is originally from Golden, Colorado. She received her B.S (2007) from the University of Chicago and her PhD (2015) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she worked under the supervision of Shannon Stahl. Alison was then an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in the laboratory of Eric Jacobsen, until beginning her independent career at MIT in 2018. The Wendlandt group is interested in the development and mechanistic elucidation of new selective catalytic reactions.

https://wendlandtlab.com/research/

HOST: Kozlowski