Complex Alkaloid Total Synthesis

Please join Yale Chemistry for a Silliman Seminar in organic chemistry with Prof. Mohammad "Mo" Movassaghi, Roger and Georges Firmenich Professor of Chemistry at MIT.

Summary: Representative enantioselective total syntheses and related synthetic methodologies will be discussed. Generalizable synthetic strategies are developed to address significant structural challenges. Advances from our group in complex molecule synthesis with focus on use of versatile intermediates to maximize overall efficiency in synthetic design will be highlighted. These case studies will be complemented by discussion of mechanistic studies that provide the basis for further development of new strategies for complex molecule synthesis.

Professor Mo Movassaghi carried out his undergraduate research with Professor Paul A. Bartlett at UC Berkeley where he received his BS in chemistry with honors in 1995. He then carried out his graduate studies with Professor Andrew G. Myers and completed his PhD at Harvard University in 2001 as a Roche Predoctoral Fellow. After a Damon-Runyon Cancer Research Foundation post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Eric N. Jacobsen at Harvard, he joined the Department of Chemistry at MIT in 2003 where he is currently the Firmenich Professor of Natural Products Chemistry. His research group focuses on the total synthesis of complex alkaloids in concert with the discovery and development of new reactions for organic synthesis. The Movassaghi group’s studies have been recognized by many awards including the American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, the American Chemical Society Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator, and the Yoshimasa Hirata Memorial Gold Medal. He is the recipient of several Lectureship honors and awards including the Clayton Heathcock Lecture in Organic Chemistry, the James D. White Honorary Lecture, and the Alan Katritzky Memorial Lecture. For more information on Prof. Movassaghi's research: Research – Movassaghi Group

Hosted by Prof. Seth Herzon.

Sponsored by the Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Fund.