Morken Research Group
Organic Chemistry Research at Boston College
Synthetic organic chemistry has undergone a paradigm shift over the past 15 years with new metal-catalyzed transformations enabling bond formation in ways that chemists previously only dreamed about.
Realizing the impact that new catalytic asymmetric reactions will have on the continued evolution of organic synthesis, we have focused our research on the development of new processes and on studying their utility in complex molecule synthesis. Control of enantioselectivity is an overarching theme as adequate control of molecular shape is paramount in the design of effective therapeutics, materials, and commodity chemicals. Our progress towards these goals depends upon expertise in many areas of chemistry including organometallic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, and synthetic organic chemistry. Additionally, computational chemistry plays a central role in ligand design and in prediction of reaction outcomes.
Morken Research Group 2023
Group News
December 13, 2023
Paul will be heading to Ulm, Germany in March 2024 as a Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) Delegate to the JungChemikerForum der GDCh Spring Symposium!
December 12, 2023
Welcome to our newest members of the group Sarah, Jin Ook, Trevor, Ling, and Jared!!!
December 01, 2023
We were excited to host Professor Suginome to Boston College where he gave a fantastic seminar, and enjoy dinner together afterwards.
August 31,2023
Want to learn about the activation of enantiomerically enriched tertiary alkylboronic esters in cross-coupling reactions? Read our new paper on substrate plasticity enables group-selective transmetalation: catalytic stereospecific cross-couplings of tertiary boronic esters on JACS! Nice work Hao!
August 16, 2023
Read about the enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-diborylsilanes and subsequent site-selective cross-coupling on ACS Catalysis! Fantastic work Ziyin (Zinnia) and Weipeng!
July 27, 2023
Congratulations to Mingkai - the recipient of this year's Fall 2023 ACS graduate student symposium travel awards!
July 24, 2023
Read about the enantioselective construction of carbocyclic and heterocyclic tertiary boronic esters by conjunctive cross-coupling reaction on JACS! Nice work, Xuntong (Charlie) and Chenpeng!
May 24, 2023
It was great to have our former undergraduate Dr. Max Palkowitz back to BC for a short course in heterocyclic chemistry. Great to see you and fantastic course!!
June 8, 2023
Congratulations to our second-year students Matt, John, Paul and Xieyang for passing their oral qualification exam!
May 22, 2023
Today is the Boston College 2023 Commencement Ceremony! Congratulation to Dr. Weipeng Hu, Dr. Peilin Xu and Dr. Alex Vendola (from left to right) who completed the hooding ceremony today!
April 26, 2023
A new paper by Hao Liang is now available on JACS today and is absolutely worth a read! Come and learn about a stereospecific transmetalation of alkylboronic esters to zinc!
April 6, 2023
Huge congrats to Mingkai and Paul for their new JACS paper on desymmetrization of vicinal bis(boronic) esters! Check it out!
Mar 15, 2023
Jasmin has received this year's John Kozarich Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship! Congrats!
Mar 12, 2023
Nina's abstract has been accepted and she will be presenting at this year's Gordon Research Conference: Organic Reactions and Processes in July! Congratulations and stay tuned!
Jan 25, 2023
Congratulations to Chenpeng and Chris for their paper getting accepted at JOC which shares some new electronically asymmetric ligands that enable palladium-catalyzed conjunctive cross-coupling!