Title: "Deoxygenative Diversification of Carboxylic Acids and Alcohols"

Byoungmoo Kim, Assistant Professor

Clemson University, Dept of Chemistry

Host: Junqi Li

Abstract: Deoxygenative transformations offer powerful tools for converting abundant diverse feedstock chemicals, such as carboxylic acids and alcohols, into diverse, value-added products. Yet, many methods lack stereo-control and often require precious metal catalysts. This presentation will include our efforts addressing these challenges: (1) an enantioselective titanium-multicatalysis for sequential, deoxygenative functionalization of carboxyl groups and their derivatives, and (2) a SuFEx (Sulfur Fluoride Exchange)-enabled platform for the deoxygenative diversification of alcohols. Together, these methods expand the synthetic toolbox for efficient, stereo-controlled deoxygenative functionalization of carboxylic acids and alcohols, which could accelerate discovery of bioactive materials.

Bio: Dr. Byoungmoo (“Boni”) Kim is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Clemson University, where he began his independent career in 2019. His research focuses on synthetic organic chemistry, emphasizing the development of selective catalytic transformations, asymmetric catalysis, and innovative catalyst design aimed at enabling new reactivity in complex, bioactive molecules. [clemson.edu], [scienceweb...lemson.edu]

He earned his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Waterloo (2008), where he worked on steroid derivative synthesis. He then completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Toronto (2014) under Professor Vy M. Dong, developing new enantioselective catalytic methods and peptide‑based synthetic strategies. Following his doctoral work, he conducted postdoctoral research at Yale University with Professor Scott J. Miller, creating new classes of chiral peptide‑based ligands and uncovering novel stereochemical behaviors. [clemson.edu]

At Clemson, Dr. Kim leads a creative research group exploring new catalytic methodologies and molecular design strategies that expand what is possible in modern organic synthesis.