An Old Reagent for Discovering New Reactions

Speaker:

Daesung Lee, professor of chemistry, University of Illinois Chicago

 

Description:

One of the most fundamental aspects of synthetic chemistry is its capacity to create and modify the
structures of molecules that are crucial to fundamental science and human health. This capacity has been constantly improved through the development of new reactions relying on developing new chemical reagents and catalysts as well as discovering unknown reactivity and mechanism of the existing entities.

In this presentation, I will discuss how our natural product synthesis efforts employing C–H insertion of
alkylidene carbenes generated from lithiated trimethylsilyldiazomethane and carbonyls have led to the
discovery of unprecedented reactivities of this reagent, and exploitation of these reactivities in developing new transformations. Ultimately, the utilities of these new synthetic tools are demonstrated in efficient synthesis of new alkaloid targets including amathaspiramides and massadin.