Szpilman Group

Today I was promoted to Full Professor. I want to thank all the people who supported. Special thanks to my mentors Mario Bachi and Erick Carreira. And of course to my wonderful group, past and present, who made and make the magic happen! Below some pictures of the group over the years (apologies to those missing)

Congratulations to Dr Raja Kapanaiah!!

Lenin's final opus, together with Asit and Xray from Natalia, is a full account of our group's work on asymmetric catalysis using our unique alfa-H-nitroxides Check it out in the link:

Catalytic Atroposelective Aerobic Oxidation Approaches to Axially Chiral Molecules A copper and chiral nitroxide co-catalyzed aerobic enantioselective oxidation process has been developed that allows access to axially chiral molecules. Two complementary atroposelective approaches, oxidative kinetic resolution (OKR) and desymmetrization, were studied using ambient air as the stoich...

Congratulations to Subrata for his work on fluorinated enones via our unique Umpolung Morita-Baylis-Hilman methodology. Online and Open Access now in Organic Letters

2-Fluoroenones via an Umpolung Morita–Baylis–Hillman Reaction of Enones Several methods have been reported for the formation of 2-fluoroenones. However, all these methods involve laborious multiple-step sequences with resulting low overall yields. In this paper, we report the first formal enone-α-H to F substitution, leading to 2-fluoroenones in a single step from ubiq...

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.joc.2c02125
Our Latest contribution to the chemistry of Enolonium Species.
Congrats to Asit, Yuriy and Natalia

2-Nitro-cyclopropyl-1-carbonyl Compounds from Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds and Nitromethane via Enolonium Species 2-Nitrocyclopropanes bearing ketones, amides, esters, and carboxylic acids in the 1 position may be accessed as single diastereoisomers in one operation from the corresponding unsaturated carbonyl compounds. The source of the nitro-methylene component is nitromethane. The reaction proceeds at room t...

מזל טוב לפרופסור אלכס שכטר על זכיתו בפרס מחוקר מצטיין ולפרופסור פלביו גרינשפן על זכיתו בפרס מרצה מצטיין מאוניברסיטת אריאל!

Raja, Asit, Lenin, and Alex presented at the 2022 Israel Chemical Society Meeting

Plenary lecture at the ICCAS conference in India. My first visit and a great opportunity to hear about research in India. Grateful to the organizers led by Dr Srinivas Nerella. At the end of the day great dinner with Srinivas, Ramesh Balusu (Kansas U), and family members.

Just now out in Organic Letters. The chemistry developed by Semmelhack and later by Stahl with the addition of our chiral nitroxides allows the first aerobic oxidative kinetic resolution of axially chiral molecules. Congratulations to Lenin Kumar Verdhi !!

Copper- and Chiral Nitroxide-Catalyzed Oxidative Kinetic Resolution of Axially Chiral N-Arylpyrroles A readily prepared C2-symmetric, α-hydrogen-substituted chiral hydroxylamine serves as a precatalyst to generate a chiral nitroxide in situ. This chiral nitroxide catalyst in combination with a copper co-catalyst functions as an oxidant for an unprecedented enantioselective oxidative kinetic resolu...

Pictures from today’s PhD Diploma Ceremony where Lenin received his diploma along with many other department PhD graduates. Yuri unfortunately could not participate as he already started his postdoc at the ETH. Lenin Kumar Verdhi will soon also move to Switzerland to join Nicolai Cramer’s group at the EPFL

Ever felt like making binary ionic liquid energetic materials (things that go boom) ? We did. Check out this little thing done in collaboration with the Eichen lab, Gottlieb and Bernstein (Rafael)

Imidazolium‐Based Energetic Materials Click or tap to learn more.

Ariel University Emergency Scholarship Fund
Ariel University announces the establishment of a Special Emergency Research Scholarship Fund for candidates from Ukraine to pursue Master, PhD degrees and to engage in Postdoctoral training at Ariel University.
The fund, available for 100 recipients, offers a full scholarship, space in a laboratory and apartments in the Campus Dormitories for singles or families, depending on need.
Program Details:
Master’s Students: 4000 NIS per month, duration 2 years.
PhD Candidates: 5000 NIS per month, duration 4 years.
Postdoctoral Fellows: 6000 – 8000 NIS per month, duration 1-2 years.
Contact email: [email protected].
Please share this information to any relevant candidate.
Every Sunday from March 13th to April 17th at 15:00 (Israel/Ukraine time), Ariel University will conduct informational meetings via Zoom for candidates who have questions.
The link to the Zoom:
https://ariel-ac-il.zoom.us/j/86114947365?pwd=YkhSNFREcmp1YjNSMjJYTnBoSHh0QT09
Meeting ID: 861 1494 7365
Passcode: 050235

Надзвичайний стипендіальний фонд Аріельского університету
Арiельский yніверситет оголошує про створення спеціального фонду дослідницьких стипендій для кандидатів з України, якi бажають отримати ступінь магістра, доктора філософії або пройти постдокторське стажування в Арiельскому yніверситетi.
Фонд, призначений для 100 одержувачів, пропонує повну стипендію, місце в лабораторії, одномісні та сімейні квартири в гуртожитку кампусу, в залежності від необхідності.
Деталі програми:
Магістратура: 4000 шекелів на місяць, тривалість 2 роки.
Аспірантура (докторантура): 5000 шекелів на місяць, тривалість 4 роки.
Постдокторантура: 6000-8000 шекелів на місяць, тривалість 1-2 роки.
Контактна адреса електронної пошти: [email protected] .
Будь ласка, поділіться цією інформацією з усіма, хто може бути зацікавлений.
Щонеділі з 13 березня по 17 квітня о 15:00 годинi (по Ізраїлю та Українi) Арiельский yніверситет проводитиме інформаційні зустрічі через Zoom для кандидатів, у яких є питання.
Посилання для підключення до зуму:
https://ariel-ac-il.zoom.us/j/86114947365?pwd=YkhSNFREcmp1YjNSMjJYTnBoSHh0QT09
Meeting ID: 861 1494 7365
Passcode: 050235

קרן מלגות מחקר מיוחדת עבור מועמדים מאוקראינה
אוניברסיטת אריאל הקימה קרן מלגות מחקר מיוחדת עבור מועמדים מאוקראינה ללימודי תואר שני, שלישי והשתלמות בתר-דוקטורט.
הקרן תעניק מלגת קיום ומחקר ודיור במעונות הקמפוס, ליחידים או למשפחות בהתאם לצורך.
פרטי התוכנית:
הלימודים יתקיימו בקמפוס אוניברסיטת אריאל בשפה האנגלית.
סטודנטים לתואר שני: גובה המלגה 4000 ש"ח לחודש, לתקופה של שנתיים.
סטודנטים לתואר שלישי: גובה המלגה 5000 ₪ לחודש, לתקופה של ארבע שנים.
השתלמות פוסט דוקטורט: גובה המלגה 6000 – 8000 ₪ לחודש, לתקופה של בין שנה לשנתיים.
דוא"ל ליצירת קשר: [email protected].
בכל יום ראשון בין ה-13 למרץ ל-17 באפריל בשעה 15:00 (זמן ישראל/ אוקראינה) יתקיים מפגש ZOOM למועמדים המתעניינים בהרשמה.
פרטי המפגש:
https://ariel-ac-il.zoom.us/j/86114947365?pwd=YkhSNFREcmp1YjNSMjJYTnBoSHh0QT09
Meeting ID: 861 1494 7365
Passcode: 050235
אנא שתפו מידע זה עם מועמדים רלוונטיים.

Visitors in our labs

Want to know how to make Borazines or how they react ? See our latest review now online in the final version. With Dr. Ish*ta Neogi

Thieme E-Journals - Synthesis / Abstract Thieme E-Books & E-Journals

כשהשמש זורחת: באוניברסיטת אריאל מפתחים דרך לנצל את אור השמש בתהליכי ייצור חשובים - מלאבס פתח תקווה ***

The Group party

Outstanding party on the occasion of Asit Ghosh's and Purbasa Bashuri's First Wedding Anniversary - Thank you for letting the group be part of the joy on your special day! אושר ועושר

Departmental seminar at Chemistry DTU my alma mater. First live seminar in almost two years. My mother, who also graduated the department and “introduced me to NMR” at the age of three, came to hear it. Thank you to Mads Clausen for the invitation!

Research with no limits: Israeli universities provide innovations to worldwide issues Israel’s world-renowned higher education system continues to make significant scientific contributions.

ICS 2021 Prize ceremony with Krishna Moorthy who won the Excellent Graduate Student Prize for the best PhD Graduate from Ariel University. Also among the prize winners our dear friend Norman Metanis from Hebrew University who won the Ourstanding Young Scientist Prize. Congratulations!!

The Department of Chemical Sciences has a new Head-of-Department
Warm greetings to Prof. Alex Szpilman for his new appointment (together with Vice Dean for Research)
Many thanks to Prof. Haya Kornweitz for leading the department dedicatedly and successfully for the last six years.

of di- and tripeptides up to gram scale is made possible by Solar light excitation of a DMAP-BrCCl3 charge-transfer complex. This generates a novel type of DMAP derived coupling reagent. This research was done in collaboration with the Yoav Eichen Lab. The paper is now online in the "accepted article" format at Angewandte Chemie:

https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202011510

ברכות חמות לפרופ' דן מאירשטיין לרגל קבלת דוקטור לשם כבוד מהאקדמיה הרוסית למדעים!
זהו כבוד גדול לאוניברסיטה ולמחלקה, .
הזכיה מהווה הכרה של מוסד יוקרתי בעל שם בינלאומי בפעילותו המדעית של פרופ' מאירשטיין.
כל הכבוד, דן!
Warmest congratulations to Prof. Dan Meyerstein on receiving an honorary doctorate from the Russian Academy of Sciences!
It is a great honor to Ariel University and to the Chemical Sciences Department.
The award is a recognition of a prestigious international institution in the scientific excellence of Prof. Meyerstein.
Well done, Dan!

Congratulations to Sourav for his method for Cumene hydroperoxide (SM for acetone and phenol) and aromatic ketones via Visible-Spectrum Solar-Light-Mediated Benzylic C–H Oxygenation Using 9,10-Dibromoanthracene As an Initiator

Visible-Spectrum Solar-Light-Mediated Benzylic C–H Oxygenation Using 9,10-Dibromoanthracene As an Initiator We report a visible-light-mediated benzylic C–H oxygenation reaction. The reaction is initiated by solar light or the blue LED activation of 9,10-dibromoanthracene in a reaction with oxygen and takes place at ambient temperature and air pressure. Secondary benzylic positions are oxygenated to keto...

Our paper on the "Direct Umpolung Morita‐Baylis‐Hillman like α‐Functionalization of Enones via Species" is online in the "Accepted Article" version @ Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations to Shlomy Arava Sourav Santra, Gulab Pathe and Raja Kapanaiah for their success. In this work we detail how the enolate-β-ammonium intermediate, inferred in the classical Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction, can be converted into a novel electrophilic species by the action of hypervalent iodine. This intermediate was trapped with acetate, tosylate or chloride giving rise to 1,2-diketones (after hydrolysis), α-tosylenones, and α-chloro enones. The tosyl enones were used in Negishi coupling to give α-aryl-enones. The proposed mechanism was supported by identifying several intermediates by NMR and showing how they converted into the products.
The Wengryniuk lab led by Sarah Wengryniuk has reported an ortho-iodo-arylation reaction of "interrupted" MBH intermediates in JACS, submitted slightly before our paper, but published already in January, which I warmly recommend to read as well: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b11282

Direct Umpolung Morita‐Baylis‐Hillman like α‐Functionalization of Enones via Enolonium Species Herein we report the on Umpolung of Morita‐Baylis‐Hillman type intermediates and application to the α‐functionalization of enone C‐H bonds. This reaction gives direct access to α‐chloro‐enones, 1,2‐d...

The final Opus from Dr. Atul More 's work in our group is published Organic Letters.
This paper details the first formal cross coupling of vinyl azides with unfunctionalized indoles to give vinyl indoles or Bis-Indolyl-Methanes. Useful synthetic intermediates in alkaloid synthesis and scaffold for biologically active compounds respectively. The transformation is catalyzed by simple Indium(III) chloride. The proposed mechanism is supported by spectroscopic studies and control experiments.

Indium(III) Catalyzed Reactions of Vinyl Azides and Indoles Indium trichloride catalyzes the reaction of vinyl azides with unfunctionalized indoles to give vinyl indoles. This is the first example of displacement of the azide group by a carbon nucleophile while preserving the vinyl function. The protocol employs very mild reaction conditions and offers excel...

Led by our tireless commander "Colonel A", our unit, which includes researchers from Bar-Ilan University אוניברסיטת אריאל (Ariel University), Weizmann Instiute of Science and the הטכניון - מכון טכנולוגי לישראל | Technion, government offices & industry has been providing civilians, hospitals & IDF- Israel Defense Forces! פיקוד העורף with scientific advice on combating . In the clip unit member Avi Schroeder
tells about some of our work (in Hebrew). It is incredible to see how the tiniest pieces of scientific data in the right time at the right place in the field makes a huge difference and saves lives. https://youtu.be/l7C17zv_7Ag

Our first (but not last) publication of 2020. We introduce the new Azido-Enolonium Species. Generated from vinyl-azides and hypervalent iodine reagents they are even more reactive electrophiles than the ketone derived Enolonium Species we have worked on in the last few years. Congratulations to Atul More and Sourav Santra!

Azido-Enolonium Species in C–C and C–N Bond-Forming Coupling Reactions Vinyl azides react with boron trifluoride activated Koser’s hypervalent iodine reagent to afford azido-enolonium species. These previously unknown azido-enolonium species react efficiently with aromatic compounds, allyltrimethylsilane, and azoles under mild conditions, with no need for a transitio...

We develop new in Thanks to ISF, IIA and MOD funding we now have openings for two students and two Fellows. See our at http://amszpilman.net and submit your application by email.