2015 Conference

Vy M. Dong

Professor of Chemistry

University of California, Irvine

Irvine, CA

USA

Research Interests, History, and Awards

Our research mission is to invent better tools for organic synthesis, including new reagents, catalysts, and strategies. More specific goals include finding ways to directly convert carbon-hydrogen bonds into other functional groups, use carbon dioxide as a raw material, and make biologically active heterocycles. Our approach to these diverse challenges shares a common theme—to harness the power of transition metal catalysis and transform simple reagents into valuable products. Our work is motivated by

1) a fundamental interest in new organometallic pathways and 2) a practical need for more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. We plan to use these methods to make natural products, pharmaceutical agents, and unique materials.

Vy Dong was born in Big Spring, Texas and spent early childhood in west Texas before moving with family to Anaheim, California. She graduated magna cum laude from UC Irvine where she majored in chemistry and completed an honor's project with Larry Overman. After graduation, she joined David MacMillan's group at UC Berkeley, and then moved with his group to Caltech to complete her doctoral studies. Her Ph.D. thesis featured variants of the zwitterionic-Claisen rearrangement and a total synthesis of erythronolide B. As an NIH postdoctoral fellow, Vy pursued training in organometallic and supramolecular chemistry with Robert Bergman and Kenneth Raymond at Berkeley. She began her independent academic career at the University of Toronto, where she was promoted with tenure and named the Adrian Brook Professor. After six years in Canada, Vy returned to the United States to assume a professorship at her alma mater, UC Irvine. Professor Dong's research team is interested in new reaction methods, enantioselective catalysis, and natural product synthesis.

Dong's awards and honors include:

The Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan, 2013 Lectureship

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship (2013)

Novartis Chemistry Lecturer (2012-2013)

Eli Lilly Grantee Award (2011-2012)

Roche Excellence Award in Chemistry (2011)

ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2010) link

Adrian Brook Distinguished Professor (2011)

Early Researcher Award (2010)

Amgen Young Investigator (2010)

AstraZeneca Award in Chemistry (2010-2012)Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2009-2011)

Inaugural Eli Lilly Young Investigator Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009)

CNC-IUPAC Travel Award (2009) link

Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Young Investigator Award for Organic Chemistry (2008-2011)

Ontario Research Fund (2008-2011)

Connaught New Staff Matching Grant (2007)

Merck Frosst Young Investigator Award (2007)

Thieme Synlett/Synthesis Journal Award (2007)

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship (2004-06)

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1999-2003)

Anna Louise Hoffman Award for Graduate Research from Iota Sigma Pi (2002)

American Chemical Society Poster Award Winner, Pacifichem ACS Conference (2000)

Don L. Bunker Honor’s Thesis Prize, UC Irvine, (1998)

Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, UC Irvine (1998)

Phi Beta Kappa (1998)

Pfizer Organic Chemistry Fellowship (1997)

Brookhaven National Lab Nuclear and Radiochemistry Fellowship (1997)