S2:E5 - The Catalysis Laboratory at Merck: 20 Years of Catalyzing Innovation (Part 1)

In this month's episode, and our 1st of 3 parts dedicated the 20th anniversary of Merck's Catalysis Laboratory, Dani and L.-C. sit down and chat with Shane Krska (@swkrska) who was one of the founding members of the Catalysis Laboratory. Shane walks us through the genesis of the group, its early impact on our projects and people. In this first 10 years of the laboratory, there was a heavy focus on asymmetric hydrogenation and cross-coupling, as well as developing all the tools necessary to rapidly identify reaction conditions using high-throughput experimentation, all of which helped shape the field of catalysis that we know today! We also hear how industry-academia partnerships contributed to new directions for the team - with longtime collaborator and friend, Professor Paul Chirik, sharing his thoughts.

Read the paper we discussed today here:

The Catalysis Laboratory at Merck: 20 Years of Catalyzing Innovation - ACS Catalysis

Highly Efficient Synthesis of β-Amino Acid Derivatives via Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Unprotected Enamines - JACS
Highly Efficient Asymmetric Synthesis of Sitagliptin - JACS
Cobalt Precursors for High-Throughput Discovery of Base Metal Asymmetric Alkene Hydrogenation Catalysts - Science

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