Kenneth Wiberg

Member of Yale faculty since 1962
Not accepting lab members at this time

Research Interests

Research

Most of my current work deals with the relationship between structure, conformation and optical rotation. Compounds of potential interest are prepared and converted to the chiral form via chemical resolution, kinetic resolution and related methods. The chiroptical properties are measured, and in collaboration with Prof. Vaccaro, the optical rotation is also determined in the gas phase. These experimental studies are supported by high level ab initio calculations.

Education

B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1948
Ph.D. Columbia University, 1950

Honors

A. P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1958
Guggenheim Fellow, 1961
Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1967
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1968
Fellow, American Association of Arts and Sciences 1972
J. F. Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry, 1974
Cope Scholar, 1986
Arthur C. Cope Award, 1988
Pauling Meda, 1992

Recent Publications

Wiberg, K. B. Relationship between Rotational Barriers and Charge Shifts,” J. Org. Chem., 2019, 84, 475.

Wiberg, K. B.; Rablen, P. R. Increase in Strain Energy during the Conversion of [4.4.4.5] Fenestrane to [4.4.4.4]Fenestrane: a Method for Estimating the Heats of Formations of Hydrocarbons and Their 142 Derivatives from ab Initio Energies. J. Org. Chem., 2020, 85, 4981-4987.476.

Labet, K. M.; Cox, J.B.; Litz, L.; Jackson, A. C.; Yruegas, S.; Wiberg, K.B.; Wood, J. L.,Total Synthesis of (=/-)-Phyallantidine: Development and Mechanistic Evaluation of Ring Expansion for Installation of Embedded Nitrogen-Oxygen Bonds. Ange. Chem. Int. Ed., 2020, 59, 9757-9766.

Wiberg, K. B,; Rablen, P. R. Re-Examination of Some Carbocatins:, Structures, Energies and Charge Distributions. J. Org. Chem., 2020, 85, 11471-11479.

Wiberg, K.B. Halogen-Halogen Nonbonded Interactions. ACS Omega, 2021, 6, 15199-15204.