On October 31, the "Nankai University - Asymchem Academic Forum" jointly organized by Nankai University and Asymchem grandly opened in the lecture hall of ShiXian Buliding, which has been the 6th year in Nankai. Distinguished professor Gregory C. Fu from California Institute of technology and Dr. Eric M. Simmons from Bristol Myers Squibb were invited to give the talks, which was presided over Prof. Qilin Zhou, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. And Dr. James gage and Dr. Yi Xiao from Asymchem attended this meeting.
During the talk, Prof. Fu and Dr. Simmons gave the talks entitled "Nuclear Substitution Reactions: a Radical Alternative to SN1 and SN2 Reactions", and "Discovery, Development and Mechanical study of Catalytic Transformations for the Multi Kilogram Scale Synthesis of Pharmaceutical Intermediates" respectively. The two experts made a professional, profound and vivid exposition on the research progress of transition metal catalyzed radical substitution reaction and the latest progress of catalytic conversion in the synthesis of drug intermediates. In the end of the talk, they answered questions and interacted with the audiences, creating a great academic atmosphere with scientific researchers.
Prof. Fu received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1991 (under the guidance of Prof. D. A. Evans). In the same year, he conducted postdoctoral research in California Institute of Technology (under the guidance of Prof. Grubbs, 2005 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry). From 1993 to 2012, he was promoted to professor at MIT in 1999 and Endowed Professor at Firmenich in 2007. In 2012, he joined Caltech as Altair Chair Professor. At the same time, Prof. Fu was selected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was the associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Prof. Fu has won many awards from the American Chemical Society, such as Elias J. Corey award, Arthur C. cope Scholar Award and h. C. Brown award, as well as Mukaiyama award from the Japanese Society for synthetic organic chemistry.
During the talk, Prof. Fu first introduced the limitations of traditional nucleophilic substitution SN1 and SN2 reactions, especially the problem of asymmetric control. For this reason, they creatively developed a series of novel Ni-catalyzed reaction systems through the free radical process, and successfully realized the asymmetric selective coupling of various alkyl reagents, which was considered almost impossible in the traditional sense, realizing the enantiomeric convergence reaction of racemic substrates. In addition, Prof. Fu also showed the progress of his research team in the field of photocatalytic / copper catalyzed carbon heterobond formation in recent years. The related achievements have achieved the efficient preparation of alkyl amines, alkyl alcohols and other challenging compounds in traditional synthesis methods.
Dr. Simmons, obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from University of California, Berkeley in 2009. Later, he joined Prof. Hartwig's group at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and engaged in postdoctoral research in organometallic chemistry and catalysis. In 2011, he joined Bristol Myers Squibb in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is now the head of BMS chemistry and synthesis development catalysis group. Over the years, Dr. Simmons' outstanding contribution have been recognized by chemistry industry and have won several awards such as NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, 2015 BMS chemical leader award, 2019 BMS Technology Application Research Innovation Award and so on
Dr. Eric M. Simmons mainly talked about the strategies and some classic examples used in the design and optimization of various synthetic methods during drug process development. Neopentyl glycol can effectively inhibit the side reaction in the addition reaction of isopropyl boron ester to cyclohexenone, the acceleration effect of palladium catalyzed direct alkylation of low solubility tetramethylamine bromide, and the unique performance of double base system in palladium catalyzed amination of aryl halides were introduced respectively.
More than 200 students and scholars from Nankai University and the pharmaceutical industry gathered together to broaden the scope of new knowledge, new technology and new ideas. They shared the experience in the current organic synthesis and deeply discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by contemporary pharmaceutical works, which made the participants benefited a lot. Before the academic report, Prof. Qilin Zhou awarded medals to the two special guests and expressed his gratitude for their participation in the report. After the meeting, Prof. Zhou, Dr. James gage, Dr.Yi Xiao and other professors of Nankai University took a group photo with the two speakers.
" Nankai University - Asymchem Academic Forum" was founded by Asymchem and the college of chemistry at Nankai University in 2014. Usually, two prominent scholars from academic and industrial field will be invited to give a talk for this lecture every autumn. Students and faculties at Nankai can communicate face-to-face with the top figures in either academic or industrial field obtain the cutting-edge information and grasp trends of chemistry and biomedical industry, open up their international vision, and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation.
