{"id":23057,"date":"2021-06-22T09:25:26","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T13:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/?page_id=23057"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T20:37:49","slug":"organic","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/research\/areas\/organic\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synthetic Organic Chemistry<\/h3>\n
Synthetic organic chemistry is a vital component of Boston University\u2019s commitment to research and teaching in the life sciences. At BU, our approach toward synthesis is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on both traditional and modern synthetic techniques to access highly complex molecules. The Department of Chemistry is at the forefront of new methodologies in the synthesis of complex natural product molecules, macromolecules, stereochemistry, asymmetric synthesis, and catalysis. With collective expertise in a wide range of innovative techniques for molecular construction, collaboration between groups is effortless and highly encouraged. The scientific creativity, exceptional productivity, and training excellence of our research groups are demonstrated by uninterrupted, large-scale grant support, numerous patents, and highly successful graduate students who have achieved leadership positions in academia, industry, and federal research agencies.<\/div>\n

Core Faculty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\n

Aaron Beeler<\/h3>\n

Area: Medicinal chemistry<\/b>, synthetic organic chemistry<\/b>, microfluidics<\/h4>\n

The Beeler Research Group<\/a> is truly multidisciplinary, combining organic chemistry, engineering, and biology to solve problems in medicinal chemistry. Focused medicinal chemistry projects utilize synthetic organic chemistry to address goals such as: a) developing a probe that may be utilized as a tool in biological studies; b) developing a lead molecule to facilitate future therapeutics; and c) utilizing small molecules to enhance understanding of biological targets. More broad impact research aims to develop new paradigms in medicinal chemistry through technology such as microfluidics. With this collaborative, multidisciplinary approach they are working to address significant problems in human health.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n\n

Joseph Derosa<\/h3>\n

Area: Transition Metal Catalysis and Organic Electrosynthesis<\/h4>\n

The Derosa Lab<\/a> focuses on challenges and opportunities in transition metal catalysis and organic synthesis, with a particular interest in (electro)catalyst development. The overarching theme is redox-controlled catalysis, where judicious tuning of the catalyst and applied electrochemical potential unlocks new reactivity. These projects will involve interdisciplinary, yet complementary, areas of research; along with extensive training in organic synthesis and methods development at its core, students will gain mastery in inorganic and organometallic chemistry as well as electroanalytical techniques. Moreover, the catalytic manifolds developed in will have direct application across a wide range of subdisciplines, offering rich collaborative opportunities in diverse areas of research. This offers exciting opportunities for translational research in medicinal and process chemistry.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n\n

Mark Grinstaff<\/h3>\n

Area: Macromolecular<\/b>, bioinorganic<\/b>, and biological chemistry<\/b><\/h4>\n

The Grinstaff Group<\/a> pursues highly interdisciplinary translational research in biological and macromolecular chemistry. Among their projects are novel dendrimers, \u201cbiodendrimers,\u201d for tissue engineering and biotechnological applications (corneal lacerations, delivery of anti-cancer drugs and DNA, and biodegradable scaffolds for cartilage repair). They also create \u201cinterfacial biomaterials\u201d that control biology on plastic, metal, and ceramic surfaces and electrochemical-based sensors\/devices using conducting polymer nanostructures and specific DNA structural motifs.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n\n

Malika Jeffries-EL<\/h3>\n

Area: Synthetic organic<\/b>, macromolecular<\/b>, and materials chemistry<\/b><\/h4>\n

The Jeffries-EL group<\/a> focuses on the synthesis of novel pi-conjugated materials and the investigation of structure-property relationships in these systems. These organic semiconductors are of technological importance impacting a variety of areas including energy, electronics and life sciences. Thus, research in the group is highly interdisciplinary combining elements of organic chemistry, theory and materials engineering.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n\n

James Panek<\/h3>\n

Area: Stereocontrolled synthesis of complex organic molecules<\/b><\/h4>\n

The Panek Group<\/a> focuses on the design and development of new methods for stereocontrolled synthesis of complex organic molecules. Once the scope of a methodology is determined, it is utilized in stereocontrolled synthesis of a natural product or a group of related natural product targets. These targets enable the preparation of chemical entities through diversity-oriented synthesis. The research goals are to enhance structural diversity available from Nature and to prepare molecules with novel chemical or biological properties. These studies are often carried out in conjunction with the CMD<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n\n

John Porco<\/h3>\n

Area: Chemical Synthesis of Complex Molecules for Translational Science<\/b><\/h4>\n

The Porco laboratory<\/a> is developing novel synthetic methodologies for concise entry to bioactive complex molecules. In a main area of interest, biomimetic approaches to natural products are being pursued as a means to formulate biosynthetic hypotheses and invent new synthetic methodology to important synthetic targets. As part of our studies, we have taken opportunities to address key questions and contemporary needs in organic chemistry including asymmetric catalysis of photocycloadditions, enantioselective dearomatization, and atropselective synthesis. Our laboratory also has a growing interest in translational collaborations with biological investigators to identify bioactive molecules, the latter done in conjunction with the BU-CMD<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n\n

Scott Schaus<\/h3>\n

Area: Chemical methodologies, natural product synthesis, and chemical genomics<\/b><\/h4>\n

The Schaus Group focuses on new chemical methodologies, synthesizes natural products and small molecules with interesting biological activities, and uses chemical genomics techniques to study the effects of compounds on cellular processes. They use chemical synthesis, functional genomics, and bioinformatics to gain understanding of the effects of antiproliferative compounds on cellular processes. Exploiting the synergy among their research projects, they develop new asymmetric methodologies, which they apply to interesting natural products. They use and develop techniques in genomics and biology to understand how these compounds affect cellular processes. Their work in chemical methodology focuses on the development of direct asymmetric carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. They have been studying the Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction, a long-standing challenge in asymmetric catalysis, concentrating on the phosphine-promoted reaction. They have successfully identified a highly enantioselective Br\u00f8nsted-acid-catalyzed MBH reaction. The reaction not only addresses a gap in asymmetric synthetic methodology but also identified a unique example of chiral Br\u00f8nsted acid catalysis.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n


\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synthetic Organic Chemistry Synthetic organic chemistry is a vital component of Boston University\u2019s commitment to research and teaching in the life sciences. At BU, our approach toward synthesis is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on both traditional and modern synthetic techniques to access highly complex molecules. The Department of Chemistry is at the forefront of new methodologies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10766,"featured_media":0,"parent":20524,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10766"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23057"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25468,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23057\/revisions\/25468"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}