Chemistry Seminar with Professor David Gorin, Smith College; Department of Chemistry.

SEMINAR TITLE: "Methylation of Oxygen Nucleophiles with Safe, Stable Methylating Agents."
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Organic and bioorganic chemistry. We have two major research interests. 1) Selective chemical catalysts and reagents are needed for the modification and functional perturbation of molecules in complex contexts, such as in biological and environmental samples. We use tools from synthetic chemistry and molecular biology to develop new reagents that selectively transform one component of a biological mixture. 2) Methylation reactions are ubiquitous in synthetic organic chemistry, but typical methods rely upon hazardous and/or unstable reagents. We are developing new strategies for methylation and related reactions that instead use safe, stable reagents.