Defunctionalative
Synthesis
&
Phosphorous
Organocatalysis
The Kwon Group
OHYUN KWON
Ohyun Kwon received her B.S. (1991) and M.S. (1993) from Seoul National University in South Korea. In 1993, she came to the U.S. to pursue her Ph.D. (1998) from Columbia University under the guidance of S. J. Danishefsky. Her thesis work involved the synthesis of biologically significant glycolipid, asialo GM1 and Globo-H human breast tumor antigen molecules, as well as complex phomoidride terpenoids, CP-225,917 and CP-263,114. She then went to Harvard University as a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow to study chemical genetics in S. L. Schreiber’s lab. There, she completed a diversity-oriented combinatorial synthesis (DOS) of a library of muticyclic compounds, as well as a library of macrocycles. Dr. Kwon joined the faculty as an assistant professor at UCLA in 2001. She has been a member of the Molecular Biology Institute (MBI) and UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) since 2005. At the core of her group’s research lies the design and development of new reactions and reagents that empower the chemical synthesis of natural products and unnatural small molecules of significance. One of the central themes of the group’s research is the redox-based deconstructive radical chemistry of terpenes, terpenoids, and commodity chemicals, whereas another involves enantioselective phosphine catalysis and the development of novel chiral phosphines such as the HypPhos and CarvoPhos catalysts, the former of which are now sold by Sigma–Aldrich.
Group Updates
1/12/2025 Congratulations to Jeremy, Michelle, Aris, and Kathleen on the publication of their papers in ChemRxiv! [link]
1/7/2025 Congratulations to Michal, Sujit, and Brady on the publication of their paper in JACS! [link]
12/9/2024 Congratulations to Brady on the publication of his paper in Organic Letters! [link]
12/5/2024 Congratulations to Brady on the acceptance of his manuscript in Organic Letters!
12/5/2024 Congratulations to Brady on the publication of his paper in Organic Syntheses! [link]
11/4/2024 We welcome Clifford, Matthew, and Rey, our new rotation students for Fall 2!
9/30/2024 We welcome Ethan and Marianna, our new rotation students for Fall 1!
8/5/2024 We welcome Yunzhao, our newest postdoctoral associate and Jason and Jett, our new rotation students for summer!
2/6/2024 We welcome Jingqiang, our newest postdoctoral associate!
12/19/2023 Congratulations to Elizabeth on the acceptance of her manuscript in Synthesis! [pdf]
12/1/2023 We welcome our newest graduate students Betsy, Cameron and Lorena!
11/28/2023 Congratulations to Tony and Zhiqi on their paper being featured by the UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry News! [link]
11/22/2023 Congratulations to Tony and Zhiqi on their paper being featured by the UCLA Newsroom! [link]
10/30/2023 We welcome Harekrishna, our newest Postdoctoral associate!
10/2/2023 We welcome our new rotation students Adrian, Cameron and Lorena!
9/7/2023 Ohyun was selected for the 2024 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award by the American Chemical Society. Congratulations!!!
8/24/2023 Congratulations to Zhiqi, Tony and Mani for the publication of their paper in Science! [abstract] [pdf]
8/7/2023 We welcome our new rotation students Betsy and Matt!
7/25/2023 Congratulations to Zhiqi and Tony on their manuscript being accepted to Science!
2/28/2023 Congratulations to Brady and Jeremy for the publication of their paper in Synthesis! [abstract] [pdf]
2/27/2023 We welcome our two newest graduate students, Aris and Elizabeth!
2/14/2023 Congratulations to Jeremy and Brady for the publication of their paper in Trends in Chemistry! [abstract] [pdf]
1/4/2023 Congratulations to Jeremy and Brady on their manuscript being accepted to Trends in Chemistry!
Older Updates
11/14/2022 Congratulations to Changmin and Jacob for the publication of their paper in The Journal of the American Chemical Society! [abstract] [pdf]
10/31/22 We welcome our two new rotation students, Aris and Marcelo!
10/28/22 Congratulations to Changmin and Jacob on their manuscript being accepted to The Journal of the American Chemical Society!
8/4/22 Congratulations to Mani, Tom and Jacob for the publication of their paper in The Journal of the American Chemical Society! [abstract] [pdf]
7/29/22 Congratulations to Changmin on starting a new Postdoctoral position at Brandeis University!
7/13/22 Congratulations to Mani, Tom and Jacob on their manuscript being accepted to The Journal of the American Chemical Society!
7/12/22 We welcome Michal, our newest Postdoctoral associate!
6/1/22 We welcome Justin, our newest Postdoctoral associate!
5/31/22 Congratulations to Tony for publication of his paper published in Heart and Rhythm [abstract]
3/30/22 We welcome Brady Dehnert and Jeremy Dworkin, our newest graduate students, to join our team!
09/06/21 San and Venky’s paper was published in Asian Journal Of Organic Chemistry. Congratulations! [abstract] [pdf]
08/06/21 Changmin’s paper was published in Nature Commun. Congratulations! [abstract] [pdf]
06/14/21 We welcome Emma, our newest undergraduate student, to join our group!
06/14/21 Congratulations to Violet for finishing her Ph.D studies! Good luck in your new role at R2M Pharma and wish you all the best!
06/11/21 Congratulations to Jason for finishing his B.S. studies! Good luck in your Ph.D studies at Cornell!
03/30/21 We welcome Thomas Bunnell and Jacob Kim, our newest graduate students, to join our team!
03/16/21 Changmin’s paper was published in ACS Central Science. Congratulations! [abstract] [pdf]
02/02/21 Violet’s paper was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Congratulations! [abstract] [pdf]
09/08/20 We welcome AJ Hacker and Maximilian McCallum, our newest graduate students, to join our team!
08/25/20 We welcome first year rotation student Jacob Kim!!!
08/25/20 Visiting professor Dr. Xian-Rong Song leaves. We will miss you very much. Good luck!
07/11/20 Manisha’s paper was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Congratulations! [abstract] [pdf]
06/16/20 Ohyun was awarded the UCLA 2019–20 McCoy Award, which recognizes the greatest contribution of the year to the science of chemistry and biochemistry. Congratulations!!! [link]
06/11/20 Congratulations to Andy for finishing his Ph.D studies! Good luck in your new role at Amgen! [link]
05/22/20 Brian’s paper was published in ChemCatChem [abstract] [pdf]
05/19/20 Jason Wu was awarded a Geissman Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, congratulations! [link]
05/18/20 Andy has accepted a medicinal chemist position at Amgen.
05/14/20 Welcome to our newest member, Tony Moreno!
05/13/20 Andy received the Majeti–Alapati Dissertation Award. [link]
02/27/20 Welcome to all the admitted prospective students! We look forward to meeting everyone. Please enjoy your time here and come back in the Fall!
02/14/20 Our groups work regarding the molecular mechanism of the efsevin-VDAC2 interaction was published in the British Journal of Pharmacology [abstract] [pdf]
01/01/20 Hoping everyone had a nice holidays and wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!!
11/19/19 Jason received an NIH Diversity Supplement. Congratulations!!!
11/06/19 Andy’s paper was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition [abstract] [pdf]
10/15/19 Welcome visiting scholar Alex Cao from Nankai University!
10/02/19 Welcome first year rotation students Tony Moreno and Joseph Garcia and visiting professor Dr. Xian-Rong Song!
10/01/19 Andy’s paper was published in Organic Letters [abstract] [pdf]
08/28/19 Welcome post-doc Zhiqi He!
08/01/19 Welcome first year summer students Allison Hacker and Andrew Salmon!
07/10/19 Andy’s paper was published on ChemRxiv [abstract] [pdf]
07/08/19 Welcome first year summer student Nik Burton and undergraduate student Jason Wu!
06/27/19 Aslam’s paper was published in Organic Syntheses [abstract] [pdf]
06/20/19 Kui’s paper was published in Organic Letters [abstract] [pdf]
06/04/19 Lingchao’s paper was published in JACS [abstract] [pdf]
05/22/19 Andy was awarded a UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship [link]
05/16/19 Andy’s paper was published in Science [abstract] [pdf]
04/23/19 Andy was selected to present his research at the 2019 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Research Symposium [link]
04/22/19 Aslam’s paper was published in Organic Syntheses [abstract] [pdf]
04/09/19 Andy was awarded the Satyan and Vimala Majeti Fellowship for Research in Organic Chemistry [link]
04/03/19 San and Changmin’s paper was published in The Journal of Antibiotics [pdf]
03/14/19 Andy’s manuscript was accepted in Science!
12/03/18 Welcome visiting scholar Gusein Sadykhov!
11/05/18 Welcome 1st year rotation student Wenjing!
09/27/18 Our comprehensive review on phosphine organocatalysis was published in Chemical Reviews [abstract] [pdf]
09/24/18 Qihai’s paper was published in Organic Letters [abstract] [pdf]
09/21/18 Jiannan is off to start his career as a professor! We will miss you very much. Good luck!!!
09/04/18 Welcome visiting scholar Xinyi Wang!
08/17/18 Craig’s paper was published in Organic Letters [abstract] [pdf]
08/13/18 Ohyun was awarded the Technology Development Grant from UC CAI [link]
08/08/18 Welcome post-doc Dr. Aslam Shaikh!!!
08/06/18 Our Chemical Reviews manuscript was accepted!
08/02/18 Ohyun was awarded the Boehringer Ingelheim Green Chemistry Award for 2018 [link]
07/30/18 Welcome new summer graduate student Mikayla, post-doc Dr. Changmin Xie, and visiting scholar Hao!!!
07/09/18 Welcome new summer graduate students Ernest, Danielle, and Angel!!!
04/25/18 Andy’s paper was published in ACS Catalysis [abstract] [pdf]
04/11/18 Welcome post-doc Dr. Manisha Swain!
04/09/18 Welcome first year graduate student Jason!
01/23/18 Andy was awarded the Hanson-Dow Excellence in Teaching Award. [link]
01/18/18 Kui and Lingchao’s paper was published in Chemical Science [abstract] [pdf]
09/01/17 Welcome to our visiting scholar Yuting Hu from Nankai University!
07/06/17 Jiannan’s paper was published in JACS [abstract] [pdf]
07/03/17 Nathan’s paper was published in JACC: Basic Translational Science [abstract] [pdf]
06/01/17 Dr.(s) Kui Zhang, Lingchao Cai, Nathan Dupper, and Craig Lee have all filed their theses and are off to new positions. Good luck to everyone!!!
Contact Us
UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
607 Charles E. Young Drive East
Los Angeles CA 90095
email: ohyun@chem.ucla.edu
