Professor Alison Wendlandt

Professor Alison Wendlandt
Department of Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract

Selective catalytic isomerization reactions

Selective isomerization reactions are valuable tools for the positional and spatial interconversion of functional groups. Catalytic isomerizations are frequently governed by thermodynamic control, enabling predictable access to product distributions defined by the stability of starting and product isomers, but limiting opportunities for tunable control. Here, we describe a mechanistic framework to achieve kinetically controlled, contra-thermodynamic isomerization reactions in diverse synthetic contexts. Our work explores how the strategic application of these reactions in a late stage setting can facilitate the construction of complex organic molecules.

Alison Wendlandt

Professor Alison Wendlandt is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alison is originally from Colorado, and received her B.S. from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison under the guidance of Shannon Stahl. Alison was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in the Jacobsen research group, until beginning her independent career at MIT in 2018. The Wendlandt group is interested in the development and mechanistic elucidation of new selective catalytic reactions.