Jack Liu
Hon. B. Sc.
University of Toronto, 2002
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Biography
I had dreamt of becoming a scientist since I was very young, and, thanks to a number of inspiring chemistry teachers in high school, the fascination of chemistry grew stronger every day. Consequently, I decided to pursuit a career in this field. I graduated from University of Toronto, Canada, with a B. Sc. degree in 2002. During my time in Toronto, I carried out undergraduate research with professors Robert A. Batey and Mark Lautens on a number of projects. I was enrolled in the Ph. D. program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002 and joined the Denmark research group.
I am interested transition metal-catalyzed transformations of organic compounds, and my project encompasses sequential rhodium-catalyzed silylcarbocyclization/palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. In the presence of a rhodium catalyst, an 1,6-enyne can be silylated with the concomitant cyclization to afford a cyclic vinyl silane, which can subsequently undergo a palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with a variety of aryl iodide. The product of this process is a densely functionalized benzylidene pentacycle.
When not in the lab, I am a railway fan, and I enjoy listening to classical music (Bach rules!).
Publications
- Lautens, M.; Han, W.; Liu, J. H.-C. MgI2-Mediated Ring Expansions
of Secondary Methylenecyclopropyl Amides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125,
4028-4029.
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