My doctorate research work with Professor Borhan has focused on various aspects of synthetic, mechanistic and physical organic chemistry. These include reaction discovery and optimization, reaction kinetics, mechanistic studies, and computational methods. My work in the area of physical organic chemistry has defined and explored a new parameter; the halenium affinity (HalA) scale, used to predict the reactivity of various functionalities, and exemplified with over 500 molecules and halenium sources. Various studies were also carried out to understand the mechanistic aspects of chlorocyclization events. My synthetic chemistry studies entail the development of new methodologies toward the preparation of highly functionalized pyrrolidines and piperidines, as well as development of new diastereoselective and enantioselective halofunctionalization reactions. |