Please join Yale Chemistry for a Silliman Seminar in Organic Chemistry with Prof. Robert Phipps, Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Cambridge.
Abstract: Non-covalent interactions play a crucial in all manner of chemical and biological processes. In recent times, the incorporation of non-covalent interactions into the design of small molecule catalysts has revolutionized the field of enantioselective catalysis. Our research is centered around applying catalyst designs incorporating non-covalent interactions to tackle selectivity challenges in synthetic chemistry, concerning both positional selectivity and enantioselectivity. This talk will discuss two aspects of our research program in asymmetric catalysis – one using transition metals and the other using radicals.
Biography: Robert Phipps received his MSci in Chemistry from Imperial College London in 2006, working with Prof. Alan Spivey. He moved to the University of Cambridge to complete his PhD (2010) with Prof. Matthew Gaunt on the development of new copper-catalyzed arylation reactions. In 2011, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley on a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship with Prof. F. Dean Toste in the area of asymmetric fluorination using chiral phosphoric acid catalysts. In 2013 he returned to Cambridge for the return year of the Marie Curie Fellowship and in 2014 he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, which allowed him to commence independent research from October 2014. In 2017 was awarded an ERC Starting Grant, in 2019 was a recipient of the RSC Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize, and in 2023 was awarded ERC Consolidator Grant (funded by UKRI). He was appointed as an Associate Professor at Cambridge in October 2021 and made Professor of Organic Chemistry in October 2022. His group develops new strategies that utilize non-covalent interactions to solve challenges in chemical methodology. For more information on Prof. Phipps’ research: Phipps Group
Hosted by Prof. Scott Miller
Sponsored by the Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Fund.