Carbon monoxide (CO) in the last two decades has garnered an increase in interest for its therapeutic effects when applied at a controlled dosage. Some notable effects include antiinflammation, anti-apoptosis, and anti-oxidation. Recently, the use of a molecular vehicle to deliver CO, known as a CO-releasing molecules (CORMs), has been a widely studied topic for their ability to deliver a controlled dosage of CO.

This seminar will describe our investigations into how organic radical ions–typically thought of as fleeting intermediates–can be tamed and exploited as a new family of organocatalysts and small molecule reagents. We identified selective generation of such species as a key hurdle stymying development of these systems. To address this problem, we have leveraged electrochemistry to develop new synthetic transformations driven by organic radical ions.

The use of covalent inhibitors in the field of drug discovery has attracted considerable attention in the 2000s. But largely owing to safety concerns, they are rarely considered when initiating a target-directed drug discovery project. Thanks to modern drug discovery approaches, the development of covalent inhibitors has been flourishing in the past decade.

Eye tracking technology has been used to study comprehension through visual processing in a variety of fields, but has seen a significantly increased use in chemistry in the past decade. Organic chemistry in particular uses unique visual representations to convey information, which could make information obtained by eye tracking particularly relevant for understanding student comprehension of the material being discussed.

C−H activation has gained extensive attention as a powerful tool in synthetic organic chemistry. The carboxylate moiety is believed as a promising candidate, however, the C−H activation of carboxylic acid is highly challenging because of its weak directing ability.

The Manetsch laboratory focuses on synthetic chemistry and the development of LC/MS-guided medicinal chemistry approaches for the development of anti-infective agents. The first half of the seminar focuses on the streptothricin natural products class, while kinetic Target-Guided Synthesis (kTGS) is the topic of the second half of the seminar.

The continual rise of plastic production globally has placed a heightened focus on the end of life destination for this durable products.¹ Replacing current nondegradable commodity plastics with degradable alternatives, specifically those that are compostable, can help alleviate the disposal burden that these products present.² Through the application of a high-throughput fluorescence based enzymatic degradation screening method, we have produced a methodology for directing the synthesis of crosslinked polyuret