Peng Liu, a professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Dietrich School, and a team of nine other researchers were published in Science on October 10. This is the third high-profile publication from Liu and the research group this year. The first two papers were published in Nature and focus on controlling stereoselectivity in organic synthesis using either biocatalysts or a novel reaction pathway that maintains existing stereochemistry. The paper published in Science discusses using a tridentate metal catalyst to create complex organic molecules with notable biological activity in a stereoselective way.
Liu says the group uses computational modeling techniques to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms behind these new experimental synthetic methods, helping to understand why the catalysts and reactions work the way they do.
The research group has several ongoing collaborations with experimental research groups and expects to continue publishing papers related to their work on stereoselective organic synthesis in the future.