Scott J. Miller - Asymmetric Catalysis in Complex Molecular Environments - Welch Conference 2024

2024 Welch Conference: "Frontiers in Molecular Catalysis"

Scott J. Miller is a Sterling Professor of Chemistry at Yale University. He received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he worked with David Evans as a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow. Subsequently, he traveled to the California Institute of Technology where he was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow with Robert Grubbs. He was a member of the faculty at Boston College for ten years before joining the faculty at Yale University. Professor Miller’s research program focuses on asymmetric catalysis. Several current interests include the selective functionalization of complex molecules, catalytic reactions in conformationally complex and stereodynamic systems, and the exploration of analogies between synthetic catalysts and enzymes. Professor Miller has also served in number of capacities for public and private organizations. For example, he recently completed terms on the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Advisory Council and the Center for Scientific Review Advisory Council, both convened by the Director of the National Institutes of Health. He serves presently as the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Scott Miller has been recognized with a number of awards and honors including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Yoshimasa Hirata Memorial Gold Medal of Nagoya University, the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, the Max Tishler Prize from Harvard University and the Remsen Award of Maryland Section of the American Chemical Society and Johns Hopkins University. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.

Abstract: Asymmetric Catalysis in Complex Molecular Environments

This lecture will describe recent developments resulting from our efforts to develop catalysts for asymmetric reactions, in particular for the preparation of densely functionalized, stereochemically complex structures. Over time, our foci have been on enantioselectivity, site-selectivity and chemoselectivity. In much of our current work, we are studying issues of enantioselectivity as a prelude to the extrapolation of catalysis concepts to more complex molecular settings where multiple issues are presented in a singular substrate. Complex natural products, for example, will be presented as quintessentially complex scaffolds for catalytic modification. Mechanistic paradigms, and their associated ambiguities – especially in light of catalyst or substrate conformational dynamics – will figure strongly in the lecture. So too, questions related to the functional generality of catalysts as they confront various substrates will be addressed, revealing occasional dichotomies of catalyst types that are better or worse suited for highly functionalized substrates. Finally, several interesting collaborations – often unanticipated by us – will be discussed. A persistent theme in the lecture will be the extent to which small molecule-based catalysts and enzymatic catalysts share mechanistic analogies.

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