Dr. Wade Downey
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
C-311 Gottwald Center for the Sciences
Office: (804) 484-1557
Fax: (804) 287-1897
Teaching:
Organic Chemistry I and II
Research:
Pericyclic reactions, processes that involve a cyclic array of atoms in the transition state, comprise a rich class of organic transformations. Two important examples of such reactions are the Claisen rearrangement and the Diels-Alder cycloaddition. Both processes are vital to the pharmaceutical industry due to their utility in the synthesis of biologically active natural products. As a result, a great deal of research has focused on the enhancement of the rate and stereoselectivity of these reactions. The development of new, useful reaction variants would provide a powerful tool for the construction of complex molecular scaffolds, which could lead to faster or less expensive synthetic routes to a variety of drugs and drug candidates.
Education:
Ph.D., Harvard University
Selected Publications:
C. Wade Downey, Miles W. Johnson, Kathryn J. Tracy “One-Pot Enol Silane Formation-Mukaiyama Aldol-Type Addition to Dimethyl Acetals Mediated by TMSOTf” Journal of Organic Chemistry 2008, 73, 3299-3302.
C. Wade Downey, Miles W. Johnson "A Tandem Enol Silane Formation-Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction Mediated by TMSOTf" Tetrahedron Letters 2007, 48, 3559-3562.
A. Suarez, C.W. Downey, G.C. Fu "Resolutions of Azomethine Imines via Cu-Catalyzed [3+2] Cycloadditions" Journal of the American Chemical Society 2005, 127, 11244-11245.T.E. Smith, M. Djang, A.J. Velander, C.W. Downey, K.A. Carroll, S. van Alphen "Versatile Asymmetric Synthesis of Kavalactones: First Synthesis of (+)-Kavain" Organic Letters 2004, 6, 2317-2320.
D.A. Evans, C.W. Downey, J.L. Hubbs "Ni(II) Bis(oxazoline)-Catalyzed Enantioselective Syn Aldol Reactions of N-Propionylthiazolidinethiones in the Presence of Silyl Triflates" Journal of the American Chemical Society 2003, 125, 8706-8707.
D.A. Evans, C.W. Downey, J.T. Shaw, J.S. Tedrow "Magnesium Halide-Catalyzed Diastereoselective anti-Aldol Reactions of Chiral N-Acylthiazolidinethiones" Organic Letters 2002, 4, 1127-1130.
D.A. Evans, J.S. Tedrow, J.T. Shaw, C.W. Downey "Diastereoselective Magnesium Halide-Catalyzed anti-Aldol Reactions of Chiral N-Acyloxazolidinones" Journal of the American Chemical Society 2002, 124, 392-393.