Title：Transformation and Construction of Amide Bonds

 Speaker：Prof. Sunwoo Lee (Chonnam National University)

 Invited by：Prof. Liangbin Huang

 Time：November 6, 2026 (Friday), 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

 Venue：Meeting Room 105 of the Shaw Engineering Building, Wushan Campus

 Organizer：School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

 Biography

 Sunwoo Lee is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Chonnam National University. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from POSTECH in 1999, followed by postdoctoral research at Yale University under the supervision of Prof. John F. Hartwig. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as a Senior Researcher at LG Chem. He joined the Department of Chemistry at Chonnam National University in 2004 and was a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley from 2014 to 2015. He has served as President of the Korean Society of Organic Synthesis (KSOS) since January 2026. His research focuses on synthetic organic methodology and catalytic transformations. Using transition metal catalysis, photochemistry, and electrochemistry as the foundation, his work is dedicated to the activation of amide C–N bonds and novel synthetic strategies, photochemical reduction of nitroarenes, electrochemical nitrogen fixation, as well as the synthesis of osteoporosis therapeutics and pharmaceutical precursors. He has published numerous academic papers in internationally renowned journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Chem. Eur. J., Org. Lett., and Adv. Synth. Catal.

 Abstract

 Amide bonds are ubiquitous in pharmaceuticals, natural products, and materials, yet resonance stabilization renders them notoriously inert, while their construction still relies on stoichiometric, wasteintensive coupling reagents. This lecture addresses both challenges. First, I will describe the transformation of unactivated amides, including Nicatalyzed direct transamidation of secondary amides, metalfree conversion to primary amides using ammonium carbonate, and Nicatalyzed amidetoester conversion.¹ Second, I will present new routes to amide bonds: reductive transamidation of nitroarenes with Nacyl saccharins and lightassisted,² Pdcatalyzed aminocarbonylation of aryl iodides with nitroarenes.³ Finally, I will introduce an unexpected discovery: dichloromethane, the most common laboratory solvent, serves as a coupling reagent for the direct amidation of carboxylic acids in DMSO.⁴,⁵ This operationally simple protocol accommodates diverse acids and amines, is compatible with chiral substrates, and proceeds on gram scale with DMSO recovery. It also compares favorably with conventional acid chloride and HATU methods in process mass intensity and Efactor. Mechanistic studies shed light on the reactive intermediates, and the strategy further extends to acyl hydrazides, 3amino1,2,4oxadiazoles, and esters.

 References

1. Rajamanickam, K. R.; Rajan, R. P. S.; Pootheri, N.; Lee, C.-F.; Lee, S. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2025, 28, e202500210

2. Rajamanickam, K. R.; Park, M.; Park, K.; Lee, S. Adv. Synth. Catal. 2025, 367, e202401574

3. Park, M.; Rajamanickam, K. R.; Lee, S. Org. Lett. 2025, 27, 6617.

4. Pootheri, N.; Umar, A. H.; Lee, S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, 148, 28733.

5. Pootheri, N.; Lee, S. Org. Lett. 2026, 28, 12389

 Announced by School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.