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Ming Chen

Associate Professor
Ming Chen
209 Davidson Hall

Research Interests

Our research focuses on synthetic organic chemistry, specifically in the areas of asymmetric catalysis with transition-metal complexes and total syntheses of bioactive natural products.

  1. Jiaming Liu, Shang Gao, Evangelos Miliordos, Ming Chen*, Asymmetric Syntheses of (Z)- or (E)-β,γ-Unsaturated Ketones via Silane-Controlled Enantiodivergent Catalysis, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023145, accepted.
  2. Shang Gao, Jiaming Liu, Diego Troya, Ming Chen*, Cu-Catalyzed Asymmetric Acylboration of 1,3-Butadienylboronate with Acyl Fluorides, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, accepted.
  3. Shang Gao, Meng Duan, Laura R. Andreola, Peiyuan Yu, Steven E. Wheeler, Kendell N. Houk*, Ming Chen*, Unusual Enantiodivergence in Chiral Brønsted Acid-Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylation with -Alkenyl Allylic Boronates, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202208908.
  4. Shang Gao, Meng Duan, Jiaming Liu, Peiyuan Yu, Kendell N. Houk, Ming Chen*, Stereochemical Control via Chirality Pairing: Stereodivergent Syntheses of Enantioenriched Homoallylic Alcohols, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 24096.
  5. Jichao Chen, Evangelos Miliordos, Ming Chen*, Highly Diastereo- and Enantioselective Synthesis of 3,6’-Bisborylanti-1,2-oxaborinan-3-enes: An Entry to Enantioenriched Homoallylic Alcohols with A Stereodefined Trisubstituted Alkene, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 840.
  6. Shang Gao, Meng Duan, Qianzhen Shao, K. N. Houk*, Ming Chen*, Development of α,α-Disubstituted Crotylboronate Reagents and Stereoselective Crotylation via Brønsted or Lewis Acid Catalysis, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020142, 18355. 
  7. Shang Gao, Meng Duan, K. N. Houk*, Ming Chen*, Chiral Phosphoric Acid Dual‐Function Catalysis: Asymmetric Allylation with α‐Vinyl Allylboron Reagents, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 202059, 10540.
  • NIH R35 MIRA Award
  • NSF CAREER Award
  • ACS Young Academic Investigator
  • Thieme Chemistry Journal Award
  • Chemical Communications, Emerging Investigator
  • Ph.D., Scripps Research
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley

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