Our group is driven by the passion of discovering new reactivity in organic chemistry, especially using catalysis. Basing on high energy molecules, such as strained rings or cyclic hypervalent iodine reagents for electrophilic alkynylation and other transformations, we develop non-conventional bond disconnections for the synthesis of important building blocks and bioactive molecules, as well as the modification of biomolecules . We also control the regioselective functionalization of alkenes and alkynes using in situ tethering approaches. Regular group meetings and seminars allow us to share and enhance our knowledge and love of organic chemistry.
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Latest News
June 13: How to access more substituted aminocyclobutanes? The latest work of Emma, a strategy based on a Ficini reaction/hydrogenation sequence is now published in Chem. Eur. J. (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202401810)
June 4: Xingyu has won the award for the best poster presentation at the SNE Chem Bio retreat. Congratulations!
May 29: Xingyu with the help of Olha and Adriana developed new non-natural amino acids containing an EBx reagent for solid and solution phase peptide synthesis, leading to new ways towards macrocycles, now accepted in Angewandte Chemie. (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202404747)
May 28: The work of Vladyslav on accessing cyclopropeniums via a radical-polar crossover approach is now in Angewandte Chemie. (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202404265)
May 27: The work of Stefano on the annulation of BCBs with dienes has been published in Chemical Science. (DOI: 10.1039/D4SC02767A)
May 23: Najung has successfully passed her candidacy exam. Congratulations!
May 23: Elusive sigma-type cyclopropenium equivalents accessed via a new hypervalent iodine reagent (CpBX), and gold-catalyzed reactions. The work of Xiangdong with computation from Matt is now in Nature Chemistry. (DOI: 10.1038/s41557-024-01535-8)
May 14: The last work of Diana on the synthesis of lactones via an organic-dye catalyzed alkynylative cyclization is now published in Organic Letters. (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01078)
April 12: Julien Borrel successfully defended his PhD thesis. He is the twenty-sixth PhD student to obtain their degree at LCSO. Congratulations!
April 3: In his latest paper in Beilstein JOC, part of the special issue on hypervalent iodine, Julien thoroughly details the complex journey to determine the optimal conditions for the azido-alkynylation of alkenes (DOI: 10.3762/bjoc.20.64)
February 9: The last work of Pierre and Raphael together with Angel and Ruben (Zhu group) on the Cu- and Fe-catalyzed benzylic C-H azidations is now published in Helvetica. (DOI: /10.1002/hlca.202400004)
January 21: Christine has won the award for the best poster presentation at the Swiss Snow Symposium 2024. Congratulations!
January 15: Carlo Baldassari joined the group as a PhD student. Welcome!
December 6: LCSO Christmas dinner has taken place at El Batan restaurant.
December 1: The last work of Xingyu in collaboration with Wei (Fierz group) and Nathan (Radenovic group) on the synthesis of fluorescent cyclic peptides via gold(I)-catalyzed macrocyclization is now accepted in JACS (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c09261).
November 8: Julien has successfully passed his final PhD exam. Congratulations!
November 8: The last work of Tin, André and Matt on photocatalyzed [2σ + 2σ] and [2σ + 2π] cycloadditions for the synthesis of bicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes and 5- or 6-membered carbocycles is now accepted in JACS (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c09789).
November 1: Dr. Adriana Faraone joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher. Welcome!
October 27: Mikus Purins successfully defended his PhD thesis. He is the twenty-fifth PhD student to obtain their degree at LCSO. Congratulations!
October 11: Nieves is leaving the group after three years postdoc. Good luck for the future!
October 7: The last work of Pierre, Julien, Mael and Morgane on in situ generated Acyl-EBX reagents is now accepted in Organic Letters (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02869).
October 6: The yearly LCSO Alumni meeting has taken place in BCH 2201.
September 30: The last work of Nieves, Tobias and Xingyu on the improved synthesis of Bis(trifluoromethylated) EBx reagents is now accepted in Chem. Commun. (DOI: 10.1039/D3CC04525K).
September 26: Helena has successfully passed her candidacy exam. Congratulations!
September 25: Mikus has successfully passed his final PhD exam. Congratulations!
September 15: Josh Wu has started his PhD at LCSO. Welcome!
September 15: The last work of Abhaya and Stefano in collaboration with Ilias Koutsopetras in the Chaubet group at the University of Strasbourg on bioconjugation wiht EBZ reagents is now accepted in Chem. Eur. J. (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202302689).
September 14: The last work of Vladyslav on the synthesis of highly substituted cyclopropanes via a semipinacol rearrangement is now accepted in Organic Letters (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02543).
September 9: The last work of Pierre and Emmanuelle on the carboazidation of dehydroalanines using a iron catalyst is now accepted in Organic Letters (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02153).
September 7: Daphne Lucidarme has won a NCCR Catalysis Young Talents Fellowship to join LCSO for her master thesis. Congratulations!
August 25: Emma has won the award for the best poster presentation in organic chemistry at the SCS Fall meeting. Congratulations!
August 11: The last work of Julien on the azido-alkynylation of styrenes is now accepted in Chemical Science (DOI: 10.1039/D3SC03309K).
August 9: The LCSO Summer group outing has taken place at Stockhorn with several culinary stops.
August 8: A preprint of the work of Alexandre jointly with the Corminboeuf group on the use of linear models for bayesian optimization of bidentate ligands is now available on ChemRxiv (DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-pknnt).
July 15: Welcome to our new group members: Najung Lee starting her PhD and Duncan Brownsey starting his postdoc!
July 3: The last work of Oleksandr on the photochemical [2+2] cycloaddition of alkynyl boronates is now accepted in Chem. Eur. J. (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202301650).
June 25: A strong LCSO delegation attended the ICHIC7 conference in Stockholm.
June 15: The last work of Xingyu on the development of peptide-EBX reagents and their use in thiol functionalization, photocatalyzed macrocyclization and binding studies with the Heinis group is now accepted in Angewandte Chemie (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202306036).
June 15: The last work of Tobias on the synthesis of heteroatom-substituted trifluoromethylated alkenes from VBXs is now accepted in Angewandte Chemie (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202306128).
June 2: Elija Grinhagena successfully defended her PhD thesis. She is the twenty-fourth PhD student to obtain their degree at LCSO. Congratulations!
June 2: The last work of Nieves on enantioselective 3-component reactions of diazo compounds, EBx reagents and nucleophiles is now accepted in Angewandte Chemie (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202305776).