Elias James Corey is an American organic chemist. In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis", specifically retrosynthetic analysis. Regarded by many as one of the greatest living chemists, he has developed numerous synthetic reagents, methodologies and total syntheses and has advanced the science of organic synthesis considerably.
The Sharpless epoxidation reaction is an enantioselective chemical reaction to prepare 2,3-epoxyalcohols from primary and secondary allylic alcohols. The oxidizing agent is tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The method relies on a catalyst formed from titanium tetra(isopropoxide) and diethyl tartrate.
Jason Altom was an American PhD student working in the research group of Nobel laureate Elias James Corey at Harvard University. He killed himself by taking potassium cyanide in 1998, citing in his suicide note "abusive research supervisors" as one reason for taking his life. Altom was studying a complex natural product and felt enormous pressure to finish the molecule before starting his academic career.
Aflatoxin total synthesis concerns the total synthesis of a group of organic compounds called aflatoxins. These compounds occur naturally in several fungi. As with other chemical compound targets in organic chemistry, the organic synthesis of aflatoxins serves various purposes. Traditionally it served to prove the structure of a complex biocompound in addition to evidence obtained from spectroscopy. It also demonstrates new concepts in organic chemistry and opens the way to molecular derivatives not found in nature. And for practical purposes, a synthetic biocompound is a commercial alternative to isolating the compound from natural resources. Aflatoxins in particular add another dimension because it is suspected that they have been mass-produced in the past from biological sources as part of a biological weapons program.
Ring-closing metathesis (RCM) is a widely used variation of olefin metathesis in organic chemistry for the synthesis of various unsaturated rings via the intramolecular metathesis of two terminal alkenes, which forms the cycloalkene as the E- or Z- isomers and volatile ethylene.
Paclitaxel total synthesis in organic chemistry is a major ongoing research effort in the total synthesis of paclitaxel (Taxol). This diterpenoid is an important drug in the treatment of cancer but, also expensive because the compound is harvested from a scarce resource, namely the Pacific yew. Not only is the synthetic reproduction of the compound itself of great commercial and scientific importance, but it also opens the way to paclitaxel derivatives not found in nature but with greater potential.
The Nazarov cyclization reaction is a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of cyclopentenones. The reaction is typically divided into classical and modern variants, depending on the reagents and substrates employed. It was originally discovered by Ivan Nikolaevich Nazarov (1906–1957) in 1941 while studying the rearrangements of allyl vinyl ketones.
Schwartz's reagent is the common name for the organozirconium compound with the formula (C5H5)2ZrHCl, sometimes called zirconocene hydrochloride or zirconocene chloride hydride, and is named after Jeffrey Schwartz, a chemistry professor at Princeton University.This metallocene is used in organic synthesis for various transformations of alkenes and alkynes.
In organic chemistry, the Buchwald–Hartwig amination is a chemical reaction for the synthesis of carbon–nitrogen bonds via the palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions of amines with aryl halides. Although Pd-catalyzed C-N couplings were reported as early as 1983, Stephen L. Buchwald and John F. Hartwig have been credited, whose publications between 1994 and the late 2000s established the scope of the transformation. The reaction's synthetic utility stems primarily from the shortcomings of typical methods for the synthesis of aromatic C−N bonds, with most methods suffering from limited substrate scope and functional group tolerance. The development of the Buchwald–Hartwig reaction allowed for the facile synthesis of aryl amines, replacing to an extent harsher methods while significantly expanding the repertoire of possible C−N bond formation.
The Rubottom oxidation is a useful, high-yielding chemical reaction between silyl enol ethers and peroxyacids to give the corresponding α-hydroxy carbonyl product. The mechanism of the reaction was proposed in its original disclosure by A.G. Brook with further evidence later supplied by George M. Rubottom. After a Prilezhaev-type oxidation of the silyl enol ether with the peroxyacid to form the siloxy oxirane intermediate, acid-catalyzed ring-opening yields an oxocarbenium ion. This intermediate then participates in a 1,4-silyl migration to give an α-siloxy carbonyl derivative that can be readily converted to the α-hydroxy carbonyl compound in the presence of acid, base, or a fluoride source.
The Fukuyama indole synthesis is a versatile tin mediated chemical reaction that results in the formation of 2,3-disubstituted indoles. A practical one-pot reaction that can be useful for the creation of disubstituted indoles. Most commonly tributyltin hydride is utilized as the reducing agent, with azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as a radical initiator. Triethylborane can also be used as a radical initiator. The reaction can begin with either an ortho-isocyanostyrene or a 2-alkenylthioanilide derivative, both forming the indole through Radical cyclization via an α-stannoimidoyl radical. The R group can be a range of both basic and acidic sensitive functional groups such as esters, THP ethers, and β-lactams. In addition the reaction is not stereospecific, in that both the cis and trans isoform can be used to obtain the desired product.
The vinylcyclopropane rearrangement or vinylcyclopropane-cyclopentene rearrangement is a ring expansion reaction, converting a vinyl-substituted cyclopropane ring into a cyclopentene ring.
James Lincoln Leighton is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University. He is known for his non-aldol approaches to polyketides.
Anthony Joseph Arduengo III is Professor of the Practice at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Saxon Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Alabama, adjunct professor at the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry of Braunschweig University of Technology in Germany, and co-founder of the StanCE coalition for sustainable chemistry based on woody biomass. He is notable for his work on chemical compounds with unusual valency, especially in the field of stable carbene research.
Mary Peters Fieser was an American chemist best known for the many books she wrote with her husband Louis Fieser.
Edward Meredith Burgess was an American chemist. He specialized in organic chemistry with an emphasis on methodology, structure, and photochemistry. He is best known for the Burgess reagent that is used for selective dehydration of alcohols.
Brian M. Stoltz is currently a professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. The primary focus of his research is chemical synthesis with an emphasis on expanding the scope of allylic alkylation for the preparation of complex molecules possessing unique structural, biological, and physical properties. His research involves the total synthesis of natural products such as dragmacidin F and (–)-cyanthiwigin F, and development of synthetic reactions to access quaternary stereocenters. Specifically, he has focused on the allylic alkylation of enolates, developing an enantioselective variant in 2004.
William Clark Still is an American organic chemist. As a distinguished professor at Columbia University, Clark Still made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry, particularly in the areas of natural product synthesis, reaction development, conformational analysis, macrocyclic stereocontrol, and computational chemistry. Still and coworkers also developed the purification technique known as flash column chromatography which is widely used for the purification of organic compounds.
Tamejiro Hiyama is a Japanese organic chemist. He is best known for his work in developing the Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi reaction and the Hiyama coupling. He is currently a professor at the Chuo University Research and Development Initiative, and a Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University.
Rick L. Danheiser is an American organic chemist and is the Arthur C. Cope Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chair of the MIT Faculty. His research involves the invention of new methods for the synthesis of complex organic compounds. Danheiser is known for the Danheiser annulation and Danheiser benzannulation reactions.
