Alison Wendlandt

Alison Wendlandt is an American chemist who is an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research considers the development of catalysts for organic synthesis.

Alison E. Wendlandt
Born
Colorado
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Yale University
University of Wisconsin
Scientific career
InstitutionsHarvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisDesign and development of quinone catalysts for aerobic C-N bond dehydrogenation reactions (2015)

Early life and education

Wendlandt is from Colorado.[1] She earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Chicago.[2] She was started a master's degree at Yale University.[2] Her graduate research had initially considered chemical biology: how certain molecules interact human health. During her research she became more interested in reaction processes and what she could do to make them more efficient.[3] She moved to Wisconsin for her doctoral studies, where she worked alongside Shannon Stahl on the development of catalysts that mediate amine oxidation.[3] She then joined Harvard University as a postdoctoral fellow working alongside Eric Jacobsen.[2][4]

Research and career

In 2018, Wendlandt joined the department of chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She works on the development of catalysts for organic chemistry. In particular, she develops dual catalysts for selective synthesis. Wendlandt used an enzyme from Streptomyces fradiae to drive the conversion of rare sugar isomers.[5] This simple one-ste reaction allowed for the conversion of D-Glucose to D-allose (a potential candidate for low-calorie sweetners) with a 40% yield.[6]

Wendlandt showed that a combination of polyanionic tungsten and disulfide could be used to drive enantioselective reactions.[7][8][9] The dual catalyst approach allowed her to make a breakthrough in alkene isomerization, making it possible to precisely control the interconversion of alkene regioisomers.[10][11]

Awards and honors

Selected publications
  • Alison E Wendlandt; Alison M Suess; Shannon S Stahl (27 October 2011). "Copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidative C-H functionalizations: trends and mechanistic insights". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 50 (47): 11062–11087. doi:10.1002/ANIE.201103945. ISSN 1433-7851. PMID 22034061. Wikidata Q82240226.
  • Alison E. Wendlandt; Shannon S. Stahl (1 December 2015). "Quinone-Catalyzed Selective Oxidation of Organic Molecules". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 54 (49): 14638–58. doi:10.1002/ANIE.201505017. ISSN 1433-7851. PMC 4859943. PMID 26530485. Wikidata Q28085039.
  • Alison E Wendlandt; Shannon S Stahl (18 December 2013). "Bioinspired aerobic oxidation of secondary amines and nitrogen heterocycles with a bifunctional quinone catalyst". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 136 (1): 506–512. doi:10.1021/JA411692V. ISSN 0002-7863. PMC 3985088. PMID 24328193. Wikidata Q37700363.

Personal life

Wendlandt is queer, and was included as one of Chemical & Engineering News' Trailblazers in 2021.[1][16] In an interview, Wendlandt described her experience of being LGBTQ+ in science: "I think being different, whatever that means — in my case, being LGBTQ — has been like a superpower."[17]

References
  1. Roldan, Bec (2022-04-08). "ONE ON ONE WITH ALISON WENDLANDT". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  2. "Alison Wendlandt to Join the Department – MIT Department of Chemistry". Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  3. "Alison Wendlandt (Ph.D. 2015)". 2016-08-18.
  4. Buchwald, Stephen L. (2020-01-23). "Eric Jacobsen @60". Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis. 362 (2): 287–288. doi:10.1002/adsc.201901485. ISSN 1615-4150. S2CID 213275760.
  5. Wang, Yong; Carder, Hayden M.; Wendlandt, Alison E. (February 2020). "Synthesis of rare sugar isomers through site-selective epimerization". Nature. 578 (7795): 403–408. Bibcode:2020Natur.578..403W. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-1937-1. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 31940659. S2CID 210333060.
  6. Ramos-Figueroa, Josseline (2020-09-07). "Scientists find a shortcut to make a rare — and possibly healthier — sugar". Massive Science. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  7. Durrani2022-11-09T09:30:00+00:00, Jamie. "Chirality-flipping reaction could completely change total synthesis strategies". Chemistry World. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  8. Zhang, Yu-An; Palani, Vignesh; Seim, Alexander E.; Wang, Yong; Wang, Kathleen J.; Wendlandt, Alison E. (2022-10-28). "Stereochemical editing logic powered by the epimerization of unactivated tertiary stereocenters". Science. 378 (6618): 383–390. Bibcode:2022Sci...378..383Z. doi:10.1126/science.add6852. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 9974169. PMID 36302032. S2CID 253183431.
  9. "Switching up tertiary stereocenters". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  10. "Whimsy and alkene isomerization in the Wendlandt Lab". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  11. Occhialini, Gino; Palani, Vignesh; Wendlandt, Alison E. (2022-01-12). "Catalytic, contra -Thermodynamic Positional Alkene Isomerization". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 144 (1): 145–152. doi:10.1021/jacs.1c12043. hdl:1721.1/141321. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 34968044. S2CID 245593922.
  12. "MIT appoints 14 faculty members to named professorships". MIT McGovern Institute. 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  13. "Previous Winners - Thieme Chemistry - Georg Thieme Verlag". Thieme. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  14. "Beckman Foundation Announces 2021 Beckman Young Investigator Awardees". Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  15. "2021 NIH Director's New Innovator Award Recipients". commonfund.nih.gov. 2022-09-28. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  16. "Trailblazers 2021". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  17. "MIT in the media: 2022 in review". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
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