Paper on alkylidenecarbene ylide published! Our paper on ylide formation between an alkylidenecarbene, generated from a precursor synthesized by Minji Ko ’21, and acetonitrile has been published. Many researchers have speculated on the existence of these ylides for years but this is the first time that such an intermediate has been directly observed and characterized. You can read all about this work, done in collaboration with the lab of Professor David Lee Phillips, here. Congrats, Minji! (October 2021)

Welcome Khaidar! Khaidar Kairbek ’25, of Pavlodar, Kazakhstan joined our lab this fall as our newest member. (September, 2021)

Welcome Dr. Tom Anderson! Tom, who recently received his Ph.D. at NYU, joined our lab on July 1, 2021 as the inaugural Daved Lee Phillips postdoctoral fellow. Professor Phillips, who established the position with a generous gift (that was graciously matched by President David Greene), visited Colby in late August and met with Tom in person. 

Welcome Alex, Andrew, Vincent, and Surya! Alex Roth ’24 of Pequea, PA, and Vincent Li ’23 of Bejing, China, joined our lab this summer as student research assistants. Andrew and Surya, both of Waterville Senior High School, were the two high schoolers who joined us as summer research scholars funded by the National Science Foundation. (Summer, 2021)

Congratulations Brett and Minji! Brett Ford and Minji Ko graduated from Colby in May 2021. Minji stayed on in our lab for a few more weeks before joining the laboratory of Dr. Kira Fu at the Boston Children’s Hospital as a research assistant. Brett accepted a position as synthetic chemist in the Drug Discovery laboratory of Dr. Kevin Hodgetts at Brigham and Women’s/Harvard Medical School.