The summer of 2009 saw three students; Bin Cai, ’10, Laura Kirk,’10, and Matt Logan,’10, spend the summer at Albion College. Bin was successful in synthesizing a chiral oxazoline-based aryl iodide, but found the compound to be unstable to the oxidation conditions (MCPBA) of the catalytic reaction. Summer of 2010 will be spent seeing of other oxidation conditions will be more amenable for this aryl iodide.
Matt Logan and Laura Kirk spent the summer working on the synthesis of a new class of compounds derived from Jacobsen’s Salen Ligand. Replacing the OH with Iodine generated the new compounds; Bis imine-bis iodo compounds. Matt used chiral diaminocyclohexane and Laura used diamino propane as a starting material.
Bin Cai has returned to China after graduating in the spring of 2010. He has taken a position at a chemical company near Shanghai. He hopes to return to America to pursue his graduate studies in a year or two. Laura Kirk will start medical school at Wayne State University. Matt Logan will be going to Graduate School at Stanford University.
