Education:
2016-present
Boston College
Graduate Student
Advisor: Prof. Jeffery A. Byers
2011-2015
Northwestern University
Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Psychology
Advisor: Prof. Karl A. Scheidt
Current Research:
C-H activation and functionalization of lactide to provide a direct route to structurally diverse poly(lactic) acid precursors and enantiomerically enriched templates for synthetic organic chemistry and pharmaceutical exploration.
Biography:
Alex was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He received his Bachelor’s from Northwestern University in 2015, where he helped develop a novel planar-chiral heterocyclic catalyst for asymmetric catalysis under the direction of Professor Karl A. Scheidt. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D at Boston College, Alex spent a year teaching 9th grade algebra at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. Outside of the lab, his interests include molecular gastronomy, fantasy baseball, creative nonfiction, human-centered design and innovations in educational technology.
Publications:
1. Michael
P. Crockett, Alexander S. Wong, Bo Li, Jeffery A. Byers. Rational
Design of an Iron‐Based Catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura Cross‐Couplings
Involving Heteroaromatic Boronic Esters and Tertiary Alkyl
Electrophiles. Angewandte Chemie, 2020, 132(13) , 5430-5435. DOI: 10.1002/ange.201914315.
2. Crockett
M P, Tyrol C C, Wong A S, et al. Iron-Catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura
Cross-Coupling Reactions between Alkyl Halides and Unactivated
Arylboronic Esters[J]. Organic letters, 2018, 20(17), 5233-5237. DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.8b02184
3. Check,
C. T.; Jang, K. P.; Schwamb, C. B.; Wong, A. S.; Wang, M. H.; Scheidt,
K. A. “Ferrocene-Based Planar Chiral Imidazopyridinium Salts for
Catalysis,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 4264-4268. DOI: 10.1002/anie.20141011
Contact:
alexander.wong.2@bc.edu