Unveiling the Unexplored Areas of Organocatalysis

Dr Vinh Nguyen

Department of Chemistry, Curtin University, Perth WA

Organocatalysis, chemical processes catalyzed by small non-metallic organic compounds, has been attracting a great deal of attention from synthetic organic chemists for the last fifteen years as one of the most promising fields in organic chemistry. It can be employed in diverse synthetic cascade sequences to quickly construct complex bonds, stereocenters and polycyclic frameworks. Organocatalysts are less expensive, more stable and exhibit superior solubility in both organic and aqueous solutions compared to organometallic/bioorganic counterparts. Most importantly, organocatalysis generally gives rise to outstanding stereoselectivity, which is significantly valuable and useful at the structural engineering stage of bioactive compounds and pharmaceutical agents. In this seminar, I will discuss my new research directions on the development and applications of novel organocatalytic methods in unexplored areas such as alcohol activation, electro-organocatalysis and multifunctional organocatalysis.

PDF flyer: http://blogs.curtin.edu.au/science-seminars/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2013/08/23-August-Vinh.pdf