Chemistry Seminar - New Methods and Technologies for Organic Electrosynthesis

Title: New Methods and Technologies for Organic Electrosynthesis

Speaker: Prof Song Lin, Cornell University, NY

Abstract: Owing to its many distinct characteristics, electrochemistry represents an attractive approach to discovering new organic reactions and improving the efficiency, selectivity, and sustainability of organic synthesis. In the past several years, we have developed a new approach that combines electrochemistry and redox-metal catalysis for the functionalization of alkenes to access a diverse array of vicinally functionalized structures. Moving beyond alkene difunctionalization, we recently expanded the scope of electrosynthesis to two-component and three-component cross electrophile coupling reactions for the formation of C–C, C–Si, and C–B bonds. In addition, using either electrooxidation or electroreduction, we achieved the site-selective functionalization of aliphatic and aromatic C–H bonds, respectively. This talk details our design principle underpinning the development of these new electrochemical transformations with a focus on applications in the synthesis of medicinally relevant compounds. In addition, this talk will discuss a parallel effort in the development of new electrochemical high-throughput reactors that can drastically improve the efficiency of reaction discovery and optimization. 

Biography: Song Lin grew up in Tianjin, China. After obtaining B.S. from Peking University in 2008, Song embarked on his graduate studies at Harvard University working with Eric Jacobsen. He then carried out postdoctoral studies with Chris Chang at UC Berkeley. In 2016, Song started his independent career at Cornell University, where he is currently a Tisch University Professor. Song has received several early career awards, including the Sloan Fellowship, ACS Cope Scholar, National Fresenius Award, Cottrell Scholar Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35, BMS Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, EPA Green Chemistry Challenge, and Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award. He is currently an Associate Editor at Organic Letters and serves on the Advisory Board of Chem, Synlett, and Tetrahedron, and the Scientific Advisory Board of OWiC Technologies. The Lin Laboratory’s research lies at the interface between electrochemistry and organic chemistry. The main objective is to use fundamental principles of electrochemistry and radical chemistry to discover new organic transformations and uncover new reaction mechanisms.