Location: SCL 160
Bruce Ellsworth: 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Song Lin: 4:30-5:30 pm
Join Yale Chemistry for a Bristol-Myers Squibb, Organic Chemistry Seminar with Song Lin, Associate Professor, Cornell University and Bruce Ellsworth, Executive Director, Head of Fibrosis, CDO and BBRC Chemistry, Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Abstract (Song Lin): New strategies for electrosynthesis
Owing to its many distinct characteristics, electrochemistry represents an attractive approach to discovering new reactions and meeting the prevailing trends in organic synthesis. In the past several years, we have showcased a new reaction approach that combines electrochemistry and redox-metal catalysis for the functionalization of alkenes to access a diverse array of vicinally functionalized structures. Moving beyond alkene difunctionalization, we recently expanded the scope of our electrochemical reaction discovery to the two-component and three-component cross electrophile coupling reactions. In addition, using either electrooxidation or electroreduction, we achieved the selective functionalization of aliphatic and aromatic C–H bonds, respectively. This talk details our design principle underpinning the development of these new electrochemical transformations with a focus on applications in the synthesis of medicinally relevant compounds. In addition, this talk will discuss a parallel effort in the development of new electrochemical high-throughput reactors that can drastically improve the efficiency of reaction discovery and optimization.
About Song Lin:
Song Lin grew up in Tianjin, China. After obtaining B.S. from Peking University in 2008, Song embarked on his graduate studies at Harvard University working with Eric Jacobsen. He then carried out postdoctoral studies with Chris Chang at UC Berkeley. In 2016, Song started his independent career at Cornell University, where he is currently a Tisch University Professor. Song has received several early career awards, including the Sloan Fellowship, National Fresenius Award, Cottrell Scholar Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, NSF CAREER Award, and MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35. He is currently an Associate Editor at Organic Letters and has served on the Early Career Advisory Board of ACS Catalysis and Chemistry–A European Journal. The Lin Laboratory’s research lies at the interface of electrochemistry and organic chemistry. The main objective is to use fundamental principles of electrochemistry and radical chemistry to discover new organic transformations and uncover new reaction mechanisms
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Abstract (Bruce Ellsworth): “Synthesis in drug discovery, and the impact of increasing sp3 character on compound quality”
This lecture will highlight the role of increasing sp3 character and chirality in molecular design to identify high quality compounds for clinical advancement to treat diseases. Two case studies will be discussed wherein initial compounds were highly lipophilic and aromatic. Efforts to reduce aromaticity (sp2 character, referred to in the literature as “escape from flatland”) and to reduce lipophilicity and an increase in chirality often results in more highly selective compounds. The presentation will focus on the discovery of these interesting structures, development of chiral synthetic routes, and the clinical candidates that result from such efforts.
About Bruce Ellsworth:
Bruce was raised in upstate NY, and completed undergraduate studies in Chemistry at SUNY-Oswego in 1987. Upon graduation, Bruce worked at Bethesda Research Labs (BRL) and Applied Biosystems, Inc. (ABI) synthesizing DNA monomers and oligomers for automated DNA synthesis and sequencing. In 1991, Bruce returned to academics to obtain a Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Paul A. Bartlett at the University of California at Berkeley followed by postdoctoral studies at University of California at Irvine with Scott Rychnovsky. In 1998, Bruce moved to BMS where he has experience in both medicinal chemistry and process chemistry. He currently leads medicinal chemistry groups that work in all therapeutic areas at BMS.