Title:    Advances in Computational Explorations of Pericyclic Reactions and Pericyclases

Time:    2025-10-29 09:00

Lecturer:  Prof. Kendall N. Houk

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Venue:    Room 202, Lu-Jiaxi Building

Abstract：

Computations bring the tools of quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics to understand and predict structures and mechanisms of transformations. This lecture will demonstrate the power of computational methods for solution of chemical problems in 2025. This lecture will describe three studies of pericyclic reactions: 1) how to overcome the Woodward-Hoffmann allowed and forbidden dichotomy with polar substituents; 2. pericyclic reactions that can form two or more products through ambimodal transition states; 3. the discovery of enzymes that catalyze pericyclic reaction, which we have named pericyclases, and our studies of how these enzymes achieve acceleration and selectivity.

Bio of the Lecturer：

Professor K. N. Houk, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, World-Renowned Authority in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry. Professor Houk’s researches focus on:  theoretical studies of reaction mechanisms, design of artificial enzymes, quantitative modeling of asymmetric reactions in synthesis, kinetics and catalytic mechanisms of enzymes, mechanistic and kinetic studies of pericyclic reactions. Professor Houk's work has profoundly advanced the field of organic chemistry, culminating in over 1,600 scientific publications and an H-index of 154.