Du Bois Lab graduate student in organic chemistry / chemical biology at Stanford University working on the synthesis of bisguanidinium toxins as tools to study electrogenesis. NSF Graduate Research Fellow and ChEM-H Chemical-Biology Interface Fellow.

I worked with the Molecular Design & Synthesis Group of Rutgers University led by Dr. Jacques Roberge to synthesize a series of analogs to develop an antichlamydial drug. Due to the instability of a bridge in the lead compound, I synthesized a series of compounds with varying bridge replacements which led to new advances in SAR. Received $1,000 from the Aresty Fellowship Grant program for research supplies.

As part of the WAVE Fellows Program, I worked on the application of ansa-bis(indenyl) catalysts for olefin isomerization and asymmetric polymerization for kinetic resolution as part of Professor Brian Stoltz’s lab. Ansa-bis(indenyl) complexes are widely explored catalysts for the stereoregular polymerization of olefins due to their planar chirality and propensity for asymmetric transformations. I used L-tartaric acid as a low cost, C2 symmetric, chiral backbone for the synthesis of a single metallocene stereoisomer. I was able to optimize a previously reported synthetic route towards the ligand to be more replicable, troubleshoot some issues with the metalation reaction, and identify the titanium complex by mass spectrometry. From my research experience with Prof. Stoltz, I was given the opportunity to work with organometallics which I can apply to projects in my career

I interned at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) during the summer of 2018 under the mentorship of Dr. John Miller and Prof. Juchao Yan to research the effects of electron delocalization on infrared vibrations and redox potentials of organic photovoltaics (OPVs). My project focused on synthesizing a series of nitrile-functionalized oligo(p-phenylene)s, compounds similar to fluorenes, to reveal a relationship for dihedral angles and molecular size on electron delocalization. Over the summer, I worked closely with Professor Yan to isolate and scale up the synthesis of three and four ring oligo(p-phenylene)s as well as several intermediates.