Jon Ellman

Research 

The ability to rapidly and efficiently synthesize new chemical matter provides unlimited opportunities to discover and develop compounds with incredibly diverse properties and applications ranging from precise tools to study biological phenomena, to pharmaceutical agents to treat unmet medical conditions, to new methods of energy storage and production.

One way that the Ellman laboratory seeks to contribute to the incredible opportunities provided by chemical synthesis is through the design and development of efficient and general methods for achieving essential bond connections. For example, the Ellman laboratory has pioneered the development of tert-butanesulfinamide chemistry, which has rapidly become one of the most extensively used approaches for the asymmetric synthesis of amine-containing compounds, a class of structures that is especially prevalent in pharmaceutical agents. Another area of focus is the catalytic conversion of C-H to C-C bonds enabling the direct preparation of an incredibly diverse array of complex structures from simple precursors.

The Ellman laboratory also is engaged in the design and synthesis of structures that interact with biological systems. For example, tools continue to be developed to rapidly establish enzyme substrate specificity to provide a window into understanding enzyme function. Moreover, compounds are designed and developed to potently and selectively interact with specific biomolecular targets to define their biological role, establish relevance for the treatment of disease, and provide key starting points for drug development.

Education

B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984
Ph.D. Harvard University, 1989
NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, 1989-92

Honors

• National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 1984
• National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1989 
• National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, 1993
• Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, 1993
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund Hitchings Award for Drug Design and Discovery, 1993
• Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, 1994
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, 1994
• Eli Lilly Grantee Award, 1994
• Cyanamid Faculty Award, 1994
• Procter and Gamble Young Investigator, 1994
• Joel H. Hildebrand Associate Professor Chair in Chemistry (UC Berkeley), 1996
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund New Initiatives in Malaria Research Award, 1997
• Department of Chemistry Teaching Award (UC Berkeley), 1998 
• American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, 2000
• Society of Biomolecular Screening Achievement Award, 2003            
• Scheele Award selected by the Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2003
• Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 2006
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006
• GlaxoSmithKline Chemistry Scholar Award, 2010
• Royal Society of Chemistry Pedler Award, 2010
• American Chemical Society Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods, 2012
• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2015
• Yale Dylan Hixon ‘88 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences, 2016
• American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, 2021
• Allan R. Day Award, 2023

Recent Publications

Google Scholar

Kaplan, A. L.; Confair, D. N.; Kim. K.; Barros-Alvarez, X.; Rodriquez, R. M.; Yang, Y.; Kweon, O. S.; Che, T.; McCorvy, J. Kamber, D. N.; Phelan, J. P.; Martins, L. C.; Pogorelov, V. M.; DiBerto, J. F.; Slocum, S. T.; Huang, X.-P.; Kumar, J. M.p; Robertson, M. J.; Panova, O.; Seven, A. B.; Wetsel, W. C.; Irwin, J. J.; Skiniotis, G.; Shoichet, B. K.; Roth, B. L.; Ellman, J. A. “Docking a Bespoke Ultra-Large Tetrahydropyridine Library Identifies 5-HT2A Receptor Agonists Conferring New Biology” Nature 2022, 610, 582–591.

Greenwood, N. S.; Champlin, A. T.; Ellman, J. A. “Catalytic Enantioselective Sulfur Alkylation of Sulfenamides for the Asymmetric Synthesis of Sulfoximines” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 17808–17814.

Brandes, D. S.; Elman, J. A. “C–H Bond Activation and Sequential Addition to Two Different Coupling Partners: A Versatile Approach to Molecular Complexity” Chem. Soc. Rev. 2022, 51, 6738-6756.

Z. Shen, Z, M. M. Walker, S. Chen, G. A. Parada, D. M. Chu, S. Dongbang, J. M. Mayer, K. N. Houk, J. A. Ellman. “General Light-Mediated, Highly Diastereoselective Piperidine Epimerization: From Most Accessible to Most Stable Stereoisomer” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 126-131.