Stefan France Assistant Professor Office: MS&E 2100K Phone: 404-385-1796 Fax: 404-894-7452 E-mail Stefan France

B. S., Duke University, 2000; Ph. D., Johns Hopkins University, 2005; Postdoctoral Associate, Emory University, 2005-2007

FACES Career Initiation Grant, 2007; NIH Postdoctoral Research Supplement to Promote Diversity, 2005; Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowhip, 2004; National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)/GlaxoSmithKline Lendon Pridgen Fellowship, 2004; Chambers Fellowship (Johns Hopkins University), 2004; United Negro College Fund/Merck Science Initiative Dissertation Fellowship, 2002; Pfizer Diversity Fellowship, 2002

Research Interests

Our research plan spans the realm of synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, natural products chemistry and asymmetric catalysis. Our research is motivated by the interest in developing new synthetic methodologies that can be applied toward the construction of complex natural products and pharmaceutically-interesting compounds.

Our current research interests include (but are not limited to):

Method Development. Our group is interested in the design of efficient methodologies to accomplish the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds with the intent to apply the methodology toward the synthesis of complex natural and unnatural targets.

Natural Product Synthesis. Approaches to natural products not only inspire the development of new synthetic strategies, but often unveil unexpected and often interesting reactivity. Targets are chosen for their interesting biological activity along with their sheer complexity. We are interested in exploring both modular and convergent approaches to complex targets that enable facile derivatization for the development of combinatorial libraries.

Medicinal Chemistry. Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry lies at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy. Our group is interested in the design, synthesis and development of pharmaceutical drugs, or other chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use. We are further interested in the study of their biological properties and their quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). Given that medicinal chemistry is a highly interdisciplinary science, we aim to establish several collaborations with biologists, biochemists, and computational chemists to facilitate the design and development process. In particular, we aim to develop therapeutics toward the treatment of various forms of cancer, HIV, diabetes, and neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

 

Selected Publications

X. Hong, S. France, A. Padwa. "A Dipolar Cycloaddition Approach Toward the Kopsifoline Alkaloid Framework" Tetrahedron 2007, in press.

X. Hong, S. France, J. M. Mejía-Oneto, A. Padwa. "A Cycloaddition Protocol for the Assembly of the Hexacyclic Framework Associated with the Kopsifoline Alkaloids." Organic Letters, 2006, 8, 5141.

S. France, D. Bernstein, A. Weatherwax, and T. Lectka. "Performing the Synthesis of a Complex Molecule on Sequentially Linked Columns: Toward the Development of a "Synthesis Machine"" Organic Letters 2005, 7, 3009-3012.

S. France, M. H. Shah, H. Wack, A. Weatherwax, H. Wack, J. P. Roth, T. Lectka. "Bifunctional Lewis Acid-Nucleophile Based Asymmetric Catalysis: Mechanistic Evidence for Imine Activation Working in Tandem with Chiral Enolate Formation in the Synthesis of β-Lactams" Journal of American Chemical Society 2005, 127, 1206-1215.

S. France, A. Weatherwax, T. Lectka. "Recent Developments in Catalytic, Asymmetric α-Halogenation: A New Frontier in Asymmetric Catalysis" European Journal of Organic Chemistry 2005, 3, 475-479.

H. Wack, S. France, A. M. Hafez, W. J. Drury, III, A. Weatherwax, T. Lectka. "Development of a New Dimeric Cyclophane Ligand: Application to Enhanced Diastereo- and Enantioselectivity in the Catalytic Synthesis of β-Lactams" Journal of
Organic Chemistry 2004, 69, 4531-4533.

S. France, A. Weatherwax, A. E. Taggi, T. Lectka. "Advances in the Catalytic, Asymmetric Synthesis of β-Lactams" Accounts of Chemical Research 2004, 37, 592-600.

S. France, H. Wack, A. E. Taggi, A. M. Hafez, T. R. Wagerle, M. H. Shah, C. L. Dusich, T. Lectka. "Catalytic, Asymmetric α-Chlorination of Acid Halides" Journal of the American Chemical Society 2004, 126, 4245-4255.

S. France, D. J. Guerin, S. J. Miller, T. Lectka. "Nucleophilic Chiral Amines as Catalysts in Asymmetric Synthesis" Chemical Reviews 2003, 103, 2985-3012.

S. France, H. Wack, A. E. Taggi, A. M. Hafez, D. R. Witsil, T. Lectka. "Bifunctional Asymmetric Catalysis: A Tandem Nucleophile/Lewis Acid Promoted Synthesis of β-Lactams" Organic Letters 2002, 4, 1603-1605.