Helen Murray Free Endowed Technical Lecture

Tehshik Yoon, PhD

Professor of Chemistry, Associate Chair for the Graduate Program, Director of Graduate Studies

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Technical Lecture: Stereocontrol in Photochemical Reactions

Photochemistry is intriguing as a synthetic tool because the absorption of light by an organic molecule results in the formation of exceptionally energetic reactive intermediates that can react in ways that are inaccessible to ground-state molecules. However, this high reactivity is also a challenge for stereoselective synthesis: control over the stereochemistry of photochemical reactions, particularly using enantioselective catalysts, has been a long-standing challenging synthetic problem with few general solutions. We recently developed a strategy that utilizes privileged chiral Brønsted acid scaffolds to control both the absolute and relative stereochemistry of complex [2+2] photocycloadditions. These reactions have enabled a general, concise, and stereocontrolled  strategy for the synthesis of the truxinate and truxillate natural products.

Wishart Hall, Lean Lecture

University of Wisconsin–Madison

• Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Board Member, Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus
• Associate Editor, Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry
• Guest Editor: Trailblazers 2022, C&EN
• American Chemical Society Cope Scholar Award
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award
• American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow
• Cottrell Scholar Award
• Postdoctoral Fellow (NIH), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA