The Speaker:

Dr. John Brown is a Manchester graduate who did his Ph. D with Professor Arthur Birch on metal-ammonia reductions. This was followed by postdoctoral work with Professor Ronald Breslow at Columbia University and a Research Fellowship at the Australian National University in Canberra. His first academic post was at the then new University of Warwick in 1966, which was followed by a move to Oxford in 1974 to a Lectureship associated with a Tutorial Fellowship at Wadham College. From that time his main research involved catalysis by transition-metal complexes with emphasis on understanding their mechanisms and contributing to organic synthesis, particularly asymmetric synthesis. Around 240 publications have resulted from the work, and he has given invited lectures at over 70 national and international conferences, since June 2000 at IASOC (Ischia, Italy) XIX International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (Shanghai, PR China) and Leeds (4th International Symposium on Transition Metals in Organic Synthesis).

Current research projects include ligand synthesis for asymmetric catalysis, mechanisms of catalytic reactions and new applications of homogeneous catalysis; additional areas of interest include organic chemistry at interfaces, especially polymer-supported synthesis. Research support has been obtained recently through funding from EPSRC, UK industry and European sources.

Work in catalysis has led to the award of the RSC Tilden Lecture in 1991, the RSC Prize in Organometallic Chemistry in 1993 and election to the Royal Society in 1996. He has held Visiting Professorships at Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Brno, Sassari and Groningen.

The Talk:

Asymmetric catalysis requires a reactive metal bound to one or more enantiomerically pure ligands. The spectacular successes in the field have been based on very simple principles of ligand design incorporating C2 symmetry (BINOL, BINAP, DUPHOS, TADDOL, etc.). The main guideline is that the ligand is treated as a rigid scaffold that controls the space around the metal and directs the reaction towards a single stereochemical outcome. This can be disadvantageous by reducing reactivity, since flexible complexes tend to be more reactive. Some efforts to provide alternatives which combine the two features will be described, and the advantages/disadvantages of symmetry analysed.

Directions:
The April meeting will be held at Five Points Diner. The restaurant is located at at the intersection of Routes 41&47 (Delsea Drive) near Hurffville, NJ. You can also call them at 856-228-5166 for additional directions.

Social Hour: 5:30-6:30 PM
Dinner: 6:30 PM
Talk: 7:30 PM

Dinner choices: Prime rib, chicken paramigana, broiled blue fish

Cost: $15 members and guests, $10 students

Reservation by Friday, March 16.

Donna D'Emilio (856) 256-4855
Michael Casner (856) 384-7048
Thomas Colacot (856) 384-7185
Alice Sebastian (856) 384-7028