Scott Eric Denmark
Reynold C. Fuson Professor of Chemistry
Professor Scott E. Denmark received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and his graduate degree (D.Sc. Tech.) from the ETH-Zürich in 1980. He joined the faculty at Illinois in the same year. His research interests are in structural, synthetic and mechanistic organic chemistry.
Research
The research in my group is primarily involved with the invention of new synthetic reactions, on the origin of stereocontrol in fundamental carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond forming reactions, in the application of these developments to the synthesis of complex molecular structures and in catalysis. A continuing theme of the work in these laboratories is the relationship between structure, reactivity and stereoselectivity in a variety of organo-element systems, particularly, silicon, phosphorus, tin, sulfur and lithium-containing compounds. We have pioneered the concept of chiral Lewis base activation of Lewis acids for catalysis in main group synthetic organic chemistry and have successfully applied this concept to myriad enantioselective carbonyl addition reactions (with silicon). In recent years our interest has also focused on palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions with organofunctional silicon compounds. We have maintained a long-standing interest in the development and application of tandem heterodiene cycloadditions for the synthesis of complex natural (alkaloids) and unnatural (fenestranes) nitrogen containing compounds. Our interest in catalysis is currently leading us to investigate the structure-activity-selectivity principles in phase transfer catalysis.
Publications
"Total Synthesis of Papulacandin D" (with C. R. Regens and T. Kobayashi) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 2774-2776.
"Lewis Base Activation of Lewis Acids: Catalytic, Enantioselective Vinylogous Aldol Addition Reactions" (with J. R. Heemstra) J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 5668-5688.
"Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions of Silanolates: A Paradigm Shift in Silicon-Based Cross-Coupling Reactions" (with J.D. Baird) Chem. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 4954.
"Stereospecific Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of (E)- and (Z)-Alkenylsilanolates with Aryl Chlorides" (with J. M. Kallemeyn) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 15958-15959.
"Synthesis, X-Ray Crystallography and Computational Analysis of 1-Azafenestranes" (with J. I. Montgomery and L. A. Kramps) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 11620-11630.
"Tandem Double-Intramolecular [4+2]/[3+2] Cycloadditions of Nitroalkenes. Studies toward a Total Synthesis of Daphnilactone B: Piperidine Ring Construction" (with R. Y. Baiazitov) J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 593.
"Lewis Base Activation of Lewis Acids: Catalytic, Enantioselective Addition of Silyl Ketene Acetals to Aldehydes" (with G. Beutner, T. Wynn, and M. Eastgate), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 3774.
"Total Synthesis of RK-397" (with S. Fujimori) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 8971-8973.
Awards
- Eli Lilly Research Award
- A. P. Sloan Foundation Fellow
- NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award
- Procter and Gamble University Exploratory Research Program Award
- University Scholar, University of Illinois
- Stuart Pharmaceuticals Award in Chemistry, ICI Americas
- A. C. Cope Scholar Award, American Chemical Society
- Alexander Von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award
- Fellow, AAAS
- Pedler Medal (Royal Society of Chemistry)
- ACS Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry
- Yamada-Koga Prize (Japan Research Foundation for Optically Active Compounds)
- Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
- Prelog Medal (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland)
