Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Alison Wendlandt, MIT
Photo credit: Justin Knight
About the Seminar
Selective catalytic isomerization reactions
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. Here, we describe a mechanistic framework to achieve kinetically controlled, contra-thermodynamic isomerization reactions in diverse synthetic contexts. Our work explores how the strategic application of these reactions in a late stage setting can facilitate the construction of complex organic molecules.
About the Speaker
Alison Wendlandt is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts institute of Technology. Alison is originally from Colorado, and received her B.S. from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison under the guidance of Shannon Stahl. Alison was subsequently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in the Jacobsen research group, 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.
Host: Noah Burns