o Developed a palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylation of disubstituted ketenes with allylaryl ethers to access enantioenriched carboxylic acid derivatives bearing α-quaternary stereocenters.

o Developed new synthetic methods, involving N-centered radical cyclizations and their application in the synthesis of daphniyunnine C, a Daphniphyllum alkaloid, and was able to access the enantiomer of the tetracyclic core of daphniyunnine C in ten steps from R-Carvone via N-centered radical cascade. Then developed a tin free N-centered radical cyclization to access different nitrogen heterocycles, and performed mechanistic studies on these radical cyclizations, and I discovered that the… Show more o Developed new synthetic methods, involving N-centered radical cyclizations and their application in the synthesis of daphniyunnine C, a Daphniphyllum alkaloid, and was able to access the enantiomer of the tetracyclic core of daphniyunnine C in ten steps from R-Carvone via N-centered radical cascade. Then developed a tin free N-centered radical cyclization to access different nitrogen heterocycles, and performed mechanistic studies on these radical cyclizations, and I discovered that the solvent was the major hydrogen donor in these radical cyclizations.o Additionally, in collaboration with Prof. Parastoo Hashemi, we developed a general strategy for the attachment of different functionalities on carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMs), and we were able to functionalize them with copper(II) ionophores for the real-time detection of trace amounts of copper in mixed metal solutions, these electrodes were found to be highly selective to copper and had very good durability giving us consistent results after hundreds of runs. Show less

o Developed new methods to access enantioenriched β-lactones bearing quaternary stereocenters via phosphine-catalyzed dimerizations of ketoketenes and the formal [2+2] cycloadditions of ketoketenes with aldehydes. o Performed mechanistic studies on both methodologies by employing low temperature 1H and 31P NMR studies and found that the phosphonium enolates are the actual catalysts for these reactions. o Developed the first regioselective and asymmetric heterodimerization of ketenes… Show more o Developed new methods to access enantioenriched β-lactones bearing quaternary stereocenters via phosphine-catalyzed dimerizations of ketoketenes and the formal [2+2] cycloadditions of ketoketenes with aldehydes. o Performed mechanistic studies on both methodologies by employing low temperature 1H and 31P NMR studies and found that the phosphonium enolates are the actual catalysts for these reactions. o Developed the first regioselective and asymmetric heterodimerization of ketenes catalyzed by cinchona alkaloids. o Explored the sterioselective hydrogenation of ketene heterodimers to access enantioenriched β-lactones bearing three stereocenters, and the hydrogenolysis of ketene heterodimers to access chiral deoxypropionate derivatives. Show less