Research Mission
Organic molecules make up nearly everything around us, including our medicines, clothing, and fuels. Research in organic chemistry is thus an essential pursuit that can impact many other scientific disciplines. By finding novel methods of building molecular architecture, we can facilitate the discovery of life-saving therapeutics, invention of novel materials, and search for alternative energies.
Our research mission is to invent better tools for organic synthesis, including new reagents, catalysts, and strategies. More specific goals include finding ways to directly convert carbon-hydrogen bonds into other functional groups, use carbon dioxide as a raw material, and make biologically active heterocycles. Our approach to these diverse challenges shares a common theme—to harness the power of transition metal catalysis and transform simple reagents into valuable products. Our work is motivated by
1) a fundamental interest in new organometallic pathways and 2) a practical need for more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. We plan to use these methods to make natural products, pharmaceutical agents, and unique materials.
Students in the Dong Lab will be trained for future careers as synthetic organic chemists in academia and the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry. For more information, see publications and funding below. If you’re interested in joining our lab, please click here on how to apply.
Publications
Murphy, S. K.; Coulter, M. M.; Dong V. M. "β-Hydroxy Ketones Prepared by Regioselective Hydroacylation.” Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 355.
Murphy, S. K.; Petrone, D. A.; Coulter, M. M.; Dong V. M. "Catalytic Hydroacylation as an Approach to Homoaldol Products.” Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 6216.
Yeung, C. S.; Hsieh, T. H. H.; Dong V. M. “Ru-catalyzed Activation of sp
Top ten most accessed articles in December 2010.
Khan, H. A.; Kou, K. G. M.; Dong V. M. “Nitrogen-directed Ketone Hydroacylation: Enantioselective Synthesis of Benzoxazepinones and Benzoxazecinones.” Chem. Sci. 2011, 2, 407.
Featured on the cover with artwork by Peter Dornan.
Top ten most accessed articles in December 2010.
Zhao, X.; Dong, V. M. “Carbon-Sulfur Reductive Elimination from Pd(IV) Sulfinate Complexes.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 932.
Coulter, M. M.; Kou, K. G. M.; Galligan, B.; Dong, V. M. “Regio- and Enantioselective Intermolecular Hydroacylation: Substrate-Directed Addition of Salicylaldehydes to Homoallylic Sulfides.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 16330.
Editorial Board of SYNFACTS selects this article as the Synfact of the month.
Phan, D. H. T.; Kou, K. G. M.; Dong, V. M. “Enantioselective Desymmetrization of Cyclopropenes by Hydroacylation.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 16354.
Editorial Board of SYNFACTS selects this article as the Synfact of the month.
Coulter, M. M.; Dinglasan, J.; Goh, J. B.; Nair, S.; Anderson, D. J.; Dong, V. M. "Preparing Water-Dispersed Palladium Nanoparticles via Polyelectrolyte Nanoreactors.” Chem. Sci. 2010, 1, 772.
Read the highlight from Chemical Science Blog.
Yeung, C. S.; Zhao, X.; Borduas, N.; Dong, V. M. "Pd-Catalyzed ortho-Arylation of Phenylacetamides, Benzamides, and Anilides with Simple Arenes using Sodium Persulfate.” Chem. Sci. 2010, 1, 331.
Top ten most accessed articles in August 2010.
Zhao, X.; Yeung, C. S.; Dong, V. M. "Palladium-catalyzed ortho-Arylation of O-Phenylcarbamates with Simple Arenes and Sodium Persulfate.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 5837.
Editorial Board of SYNFACTS selects this article as the Synfact of the month.
Li, Y.; Jardine, K. J.; Tan, R.; Song, D.; Dong, V. M. "Palladium-Catalyzed Intramolecular Carboesterification of Olefins: A Formal [3+2] Cycloaddition.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 784.
Selected by the editors as a "Hot Paper".
Phan, D. H. T.; Kim, B.; Dong, V. M. "Phthalides by Rhodium-Catalyzed Ketone Hydroacylation.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 15608.
Read the highlight from SYNFACTS.Read the highlight in Angewandte by Michael Willis.
Coulter, M. M.; Dornan, P. K.; Dong, V. M. "Rh-Catalyzed Intramolecular Olefin Hydroacylation: Enantioselective Synthesis of Seven- and Eight-Membered Heterocycles.”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 6932.
Read the highlight from SYNFACTS.
Zhao, X.; Dimitrijević, E.; Dong, V. M. "Palladium-Catalyzed C–H Bond Functionalization with Arylsulfonyl Chlorides.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 3466.
Shen, Z.; Dornan, P. K.; Khan, H. A.; Woo, T. K.; Dong, V. M. "Mechanistic Insights into the Rhodium-Catalyzed Intramolecular Ketone Hydroacylation.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 1077.
Shen, Z.; Dong, V. M. "Benzofurans Prepared by C-H Bond Functionalization with Acylsilanes.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 784.
Read the highlight from SYNFACTS.
Yeung, C. S.; Dong, V. M. "Beyond Aresta’s Complex: Ni- and Pd-Catalyzed Organozinc Coupling to CO2.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 7826.
Read the highlight from SYNFACTS.Read the highlight in Angewandte by Martin and Correa.
Li, Y.; Song, D.; Dong, V. M. "Palladium-Catalyzed Olefin Dioxygenation.”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 2962.
Read the highlight from SYNFACTS.
Shen, Z.; Khan, H. A.; Dong, V. M. "Rh-Catalyzed Carbonyl Hydroacylation: An Enantioselective Approach to Lactones.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 2916.
See the highlight in Chemistry World featuring this work: James Mitchell Crow, "Rhodium fast tracks route to lactones."
Editorial Board of SYNFACTS selects this article as the Synfact of the month.
Dong, V. M.; Fiedler, D.; Carl, B.; Bergman, R. G.; Raymond, K. N. “Molecular Recognition and Stabilization of Iminium Ions in Water.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 14464. See the highlight in Nature featuring this work: Julius Rebek, "Molecules in Quarantine."
Dong, V. M.; MacMillan, D. W. C. “Design of a new cascade reaction for the construction of complex acyclic architecture: The tandem acyl-Claisen rearrangement.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 2448.
Yoon, T. P.; Dong, V. M.; MacMillan, D. W. C. “Development of a new Lewis acid-catalyzed Claisen rearrangement.”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1999, 121, 9726.
Invited Contributions
Dornan, P. K.; Leung, P. L.; Dong, V. M. "Synthesis of C3- and C2-symmetric tris- and bis-sulfoxide ligands by asymmetric oxidation." Tetrahedron 2011, 67, 4378.
Invited contribution in honor of Dean Toste.
Borduas, N.; Lough, A. J.; Dong, V. M. "Cyclopalladation of N-Phenylbenzamides: Synthesis and Structure of Bimetallic Palladium(II)-Complexes." Inorg. Chem. Acta. 2011, 369, 247.
Invited contribution in honor of Robert Bergman.
Yeung, C. S.; Dong, V. M. "Pd-catalyzed ortho-arylation of N-aryloxazolidinones with simple arenes using sodium persulfate." Synlett. 2011, 7, 974.
Invited contribution in honor of Xiyan Lu and Li-Xin Dai.
Hsieh, T. H. H.; Dong, V. M. "Indole Synthesis: Palladium-Catalyzed C–H Bond Amination via Reduction of Nitroalkenes with Carbon Monoxide.” Tetrahedron, 2009, 65, 3062.
Invited contribution in honor of Justin Du Bois's Young Investigator Award.
Highlights and Reviews
Gladysz, J.; Ball, Z. T.; Bertrand, G.; Blum, S. A.; Dong, V. M.; Dorta, R.; Hahn, F. E.; Humphrey, M. G.; Jones, W. D.; Klosin, J.; Manners, I.; Marks, T. J.; Mayer, J. M.; Rieger, B.; Ritter, J. C.; Sattelberger, A. P.; Schomaker, J. M.; Yam V. W. "Organometallics Roundtable 2011." Organometallics, 2012, 31 (1) 1-18.
Yeung, C. S.; Dong, V. M. "Catalytic Dehydrogenative Cross-Coupling: Forming Carbon-Carbon Bonds by Oxidizing Two Carbon-Hydrogen Bonds." Chem. Rev. 2011, 111, 1215.
For a thematic issue: Frontiers in Transition Metal Catalyzed Reactions.
Yeung, C. S.; Dong, V. M.; "New Direction in Enantioselective Catalysis: Scaffolding Ligands in Olefin Hydroformylation", Highlight article, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 809.
Yeung, C. S.; Dornan, P. K.; Dong, V. M. "Transition Metal Catalyzed Approaches to Lactones Involving C-O Bond Formation" in Catalyzed Carbon-Heteroatom Bond Formation, A. K. Yudin; Wiley-VCH: New York, 2010; Chapter 2.
Funding
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