Organic Chemistry Seminar Dr. John Wai, WuXi AppTec

Synthesis of newly designed molecules continues to be a serious rate limiting step in drug discovery. Accelerating this RTS means investing only in synthetic sequences that are more likely to work. Structural diversifications, different substitution patterns, unique heterocyclic systems and arrays of functionalities etc. can lead to unexpected reactivities. Retrospective analyses of our collection of interesting observations with quantum mechanics provided tremendous insight on why certain substrates and reactions behaved differently.

Andrew M. Rappe

Theoretical Chemistry and Physics of Energy Conversion

Andrew M. Rappe is Blanchard Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.  He received his A.B. in "Chemistry and Physics" summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1986, and his Ph.D. in "Physics and Chemistry" from MIT in 1992.  He was an IBM Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley before starting at Penn in 1994.