Event
Chemical Society Seminar Series: Shawn Collins-Addressing Challenges in Macrocyclization via Catalysis
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 13:00to14:30
Maass Chemistry Building
OM 10, 801 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3A 0B8, CA
Abstract:
Macrocycles have found applications in pharmaceuticals, aromachemicals, agrochemicals and materials science. However, their synthesis remains plagued by longstanding challenges including slow rates of ring closing and the subsequent need for high dilution, and large quantities of reagents necessary to achieve acceptable yields and practical reaction times. Not surprisingly, most macrocyclizations afford low yields, poor control of asymmetry and fail when assembling constrained and rigid molecular architectures. The lecture will provide case studies of trying to address challenges through strategies incorporating catalysis and modern techniques.
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Bio:
Shawn K. Collins was born in 1974 and raised in Val d'Or, Qu茅bec. He obtained a B.Sc. (Honours) degree from Concordia University in 1996 while working with Professor Ossie S. Tee. He completed his doctoral dissertation in 2001 on the synthesis, preparation and application of acetylenic cyclophanes with Professor Alex G. Fallis at the University of Ottawa. After an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Larry E. Overman (University of California, Irvine) pursuing the total synthesis of polycyclic guanidinium alkaloids, he joined the faculty at Universit茅 de Montr茅al in September 2003 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2009 and to Full Professor in 2015. Professor Collins's research group is interested in the development of novel synthetic methods, particularly involving catalysis, photochemistry and continuous flow methods.
