Ken Houk (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles) presents “Pericyclic Reactions: Theory, Mechanisms, Dynamics, and Role in Biology” on Friday, April 29 at 3:30 PM in Anderson 329.
Pericyclic reactions were defined by Woodward and Hoffmann in the 1960s. Pericyclic reactions are concerted processes involving a cyclic reorganization of bonding. I will describe computational studies focusing on four recent discoveries: 1) defining mechanisms of these reactions in terms of dynamics of bonding changes; 2) finding ambimodal polypericyclic transition states that give more than one product; 3) explaining orbital symmetry forbidden reactions that nevertheless occur readily; and 4) identifying the role of pericyclic reactions in biosynthesis, catalyzed by a class of enzymes that we have named pericyclases.
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Meeting ID: 986 1353 0769 Passcode: 028102