Dwain L. Ford Lecture Series: Feb. 18
The faculty, students and staff of the Andrews University Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry are pleased to invite all to view a Zoom lecture by Sidney Malik Wilkerson-Hill, PhD, on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. EST on "Synthetic Strategies Inspired by Natural Products."
This is the sixth installment of the Dwain L. Ford Lecture Series in the Andrews University Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 2021 spring seminar program. Everyone is invited to view the lecture at https://andrews.zoom.us/j/92307867479. The meeting ID is 923 0786 7479.
Teachers are encouraged to announce this lecture in their classes and/or forward this email to their classes. Please share and encourage your colleagues, friends and others to tune in online. This lecture is free and open to all: students, high school through college, and everyone in our community and general public.
The Dwain L. Ford Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the Andrews University Office of Research & Creative Scholarship, Berrien RESA Math Science Center and the Chemistry Honors Society.
Seminar Zoom Protocol:
- Mute your sound.
- Everyone can ask/write a question in the chat.
Abstract:
Complex secondary metabolites isolated from natural sources (i.e. natural products) provide a wealth of diverse chemical space which often serve as the basis for drug development. Furthermore, the synthesis of these compounds serves to test current reaction methodologies in complex environments as well as provide inspiration for developing new reactions. An active goal of the Hill group is to develop new reactions to access complex dimeric natural products. To this end, we are developing new cyclopropanation reactions with the specific goal of accessing cyclopropanes found in nature. Our current efforts are directed toward developing a general platform to perform cyclopropanation reactions with frustrated Lewis acid base pairs (FLPs).
Speaker’s Bio:
Sidney Hill was born in Kinston, North Carolina, in 1988. Sidney began his undergraduate studies at North Carolina State University and obtained a BS in polymer and color chemistry through the College of Textiles, a BS in chemistry through the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 2010 (Summa Cum Laude) and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. In 2015, Sidney received his PhD under the supervision of Professor Richmond Sarpong from the University of California, Berkeley, where his research focused on using transition metal-catalyzed cycloisomerization reactions to access natural product scaffolds. During his graduate studies, Sidney received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award. Sidney was also involved in diversity initiatives such as the Berkeley Science Network and California Alliance programs to address disparities facing minorities pursuing careers in the physical sciences. Then, he was a UNCF-Merck postdoctoral fellow with Professor Huw Davies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where his research focuses on developing novel reactions using N-sulfonyltriazoles and rhodium tetracarboxylate catalysts for C–H functionalization reactions. Sidney is currently an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department at UNC Chapel Hill where his research focuses on the total synthesis of complex natural products and heterocyclic compounds.
PR
pr@andrews.edu
