Emulating Terpene Biosynthesis in the Synthesis of Complex Polycyclic Natural Products

Title:

Emulating Terpene Biosynthesis in the Synthesis of Complex Polycyclic Natural Products

Schedule:

Date: 16^th January, 2024 (Tuesday)

Time: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (HKT) 

Venue: Lecture Theatre P4, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building

Speaker:

Prof. P. Andrew Evans

Department of Chemistry

Queen's University, Canada

Biography:

Professor P. Andrew Evans is the Alfred R. Bader Chair of Organic Chemistry, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Organic and Organometallic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Queen’s University and a Changjiang Scholar at Central South University in China. He received a B.Sc. with honors in Applied Chemistry at Newcastle Polytechnic in 1987 and a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in 1991 under the supervision of Andrew B. Holmes, FRS. He then completed postdoctoral studies with Philip D. Magnus, FRS, at the University of Texas at Austin as a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow. In 1993 he initiated his independent career at the University of Delaware, where he was promoted to Professor before moving to Indiana University in 2001.In 2006, he moved to the University of Liverpool, where he was the Heath Harrison Chair of Organic Chemistry before moving to his current position in July 2012. Recent awards include the R. U. Lemieux Award, the Paul G. Gassman Distinguished Service Award, the Harry and Carol Mosher Award, a Changjiang Scholar Award, an ACS Cope Scholar Award and the RSC Pedler Award. He has also served on the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry as a Member-at-Large, Councilor, National Organic Symposium Executive Officer and Division Chair. He is currently a co-chair of the highly acclaimed ACS-DOC Graduate Research Symposium. Additionally, he has served as an Associate Editor for Chem. Comm. and Synthesis. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for Organic Reactions. He has published nearly 150 papers, articles, reviews, book chapters and monographs and delivered over 500 plenary and invited lectures.

Abstract:

Transition metal-catalyzed higher-order carbocyclization reactions provide powerful methods for the stereoselective construction of complex polycyclic systems that are generally not accessible via classical pericyclic reactions. We have demonstrated the merit of the rhodium-catalyzed [m+n+n] carbocyclization reactions of carbon and heteroatom tethered 1,6-enynesandalkenylidenecyclopropaneswith carbon monoxide, alkynes, allenes, etc. Recent studies have explored the development of a stereoselective rhodium-catalyzed [3+2+1] and [3+2+2] carbocyclizationwith1,6-chloro-enynes and alkenylidenecyclopropanes, respectively. The seminar will outline the scope and limitations of some of these transformations and their application to challenging bioactive natural products, as exemplified by thapsigargin and zizaene.

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