Congratulations, Dr. Kristen Baker!

Congratulations, Dr. Kristen Baker, on defending your thesis, “Deaminative Couplings of Alkylpyridinium Salts!” Great research and great story. It was also super special to celebrate in person! We miss you already and wish you all the best in your postdoc at Providence College!!

Understanding How Pyridinium Structure Influences Deamination

In this collaborative effort with the Kozlowski and Rosenthal groups, we investigate the effect of pyridinium substituents on the efficiency of reduction and C–N bond cleavage. You may have wondered if those 2,6-aryl groups were really needed… This paper answers that question and then delves deeper into the electronic and steric factors that promote deamination. We learned so much in this collaboration and are excited to see it published in ACS Catalysis.

New Method for Stereospecific Quat Center Formation

We’re so excited to see Jianyu and Olivia’s work published (link)! Jianyu discovered that the addition of a stilbene enables stereospecific cross-couplings of benzylic carboxylates without naphthyl substitution! Olivia’s mechanistic studies show that there’s more to learn about this intriguing catalyst system (more to come on that). Congrats to Jianyu and Olivia!