Professor Vy Dong

Winner: 2020 Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award

University of California, Irvine

For creative applications of metal hydride catalysis to address diverse challenges in organic synthesis, including carbon-carbon activation and cyclic peptide construction.

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A career highlight has been seeing my graduate students grow as first year students into independent and creative scientists.
Professor Vy Dong

Although not observable by the naked eye, molecules are three-dimensional structures that have specific functions that depend upon their intricate structure and shape. As organic chemists, Professor Dong’s team are molecular architects who look at the invention of more green and sustainable tools for constructing molecules. The research team relies on a type of catalysis called metal-hydride catalysis, which can enable many different types of bond constructions. By finding novel methods of building molecular architecture, Professor Dong’s team aims to facilitate the discovery of life-saving therapeutics, invention of novel materials and search for alternative energies.

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Professor Dong graduated from the University of California at Irvine, where she majored in chemistry and completed an honor’s project with Larry Overman at the Overman Lab. After graduation, she joined David MacMillan’s group at UC Berkeley, and then moved with the group to Caltech to complete her doctoral studies. Her PhD thesis featured varients of the zwitterionic-Claisen rearrangement and a total synthesis of erythronolide B. As an NIH postdoctoral fellow, Professor Dong pursued training in organometallic and supramolecular chemistry at Berkeley. She began her independent academic career at the University of Toronto, where she was promoted with tenure and named the Adrian Brook Professor. After six years in Canada, Professor Dong returned to the University of California at Irvine to assume a professorship. Professor Dong’s research team is interested in new reaction methods, enantioselective catalysis, and natural product synthesis. Aside from research and teaching introductory organic chemistry, Professor Dong serves as an associate editor for RSC’s flagship journal, Chemical Science.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

Taking introductory organic chemistry with Larry Overman.

What has been a highlight for you?

Seeing my graduate students grow as first year students into independent and creative scientists. 

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