Sam Chan 陳巧新

  • Fellowship in 2020 at Scripp's Research Institute
  • University of Oxford Croucher Scholarship in 2015 at University of Oxford

Sam is currently a Senior Scientist at Architect Therapeutics, in which he expends his skills in chemical synthesis, methods development, mechanistic investigation, and data analysis to propel efforts in small-molecule drug discovery across multiple target modalities.

Prior to his current employment, he was a postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Jin-Quan Yu at Scripps Research, focusing on the discovery and development of novel chemical reactions through fundamental investigations in transition metal-catalyzed C–H activation processes. During his time at Scripps Research, he discovered 2 new classes of chemical reactions, one of which has resulted in a lead-author publication in Science.

He obtained his DPhil in Organic Chemistry with MPLS division thesis commendation under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Burton at the University of Oxford, working on biomimetic natural product synthesis with an emphasis on the use of oxonium ion chemistry. His doctoral research constitutes the total synthesis of 18 natural products including the structural reassignment of 4 members which were previously mischaracterized. He stayed in the Burton research group immediately after completing his DPhil to investigate the chemistry of hitherto unknown allylic, benzylic, propargylic, and allenylic oxonium ions. This extended stint at Oxford has led to the isolation and characterization of 22 of these exotic chemical species.

He obtained his BSc in Chemistry with First-Class Honours from the University of Hong Kong in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. Pauline Chiu on the development of (4+3) cycloaddition reactions. He was awarded the G. T. Byrne Memorial Prize in Chemistry for being the best final year chemistry student, and the Dick Arthur Memorial Prize in Chemistry for being the most distinguished organic chemistry student in the final year of studies.

Publications:

1. Chan, H. S. S., Li, Y., Sutro, J. L., Brown, D. S., Paton, R. S. and Burton, J. W. Synthesis and Properties of Allylic, Benzylic, Propargylic and Allenylic Oxonium Ions. ChemRxiv. 2023, DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-d2wdr [Link]

2. Meng, G., Hu, L., Chan, H. S. S., Qiao, J. X. and Yu, J.-Q. Synthesis of 1,3-Dienes via Ligand-Enabled Sequential Dehydrogenation of Aliphatic Acids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 24, 13003-13007. [Link]

3. Meng, G., Wang, Z., Chan, H. S. S., Chekshin, N., Li, Z., Wang, P. and Yu, J.-Q. Dual-Ligand Catalyst for the Nondirected C–H Olefination of Heteroarenes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 14, 8198-8208. [Link]

4. Chan, H. S. S., Yang, J.-M. and Yu, J.-Q. Catalyst-controlled site-selective methylene C–H lactonization of dicarboxylic acids. Science. 2022, 376, 1481-1487. [Link]

Highlighted by Chemical & Engineering News and Synfacts.

5. Hicks, H. B., Brown, D. S., Chan, H. S. S., Sousa, B. A., Christensen, K. E. and Burton, J. W. Total Synthesis and Structure Confirmation of (E) and (Z)-Ocellenyne. Org. Lett. 2022, 24, 9174–9178. [Link]

6. Lucas, E. L., Lam, N. Y. S., Zhuang, Z., Chan, H. S. S., Strassfeld, D. A. and Yu, J.-Q. Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective β-C(sp3)–H Activation Reactions of Aliphatic Acids: A Retrosynthetic Surrogate for Enolate Alkylation and Conjugate Addition. Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 4, 537-550. [Link]

7. Chan, H. S. S., Thompson, A. L., Christensen, K. E. and Burton, J. W. Forwards and backwards – synthesis of Laurencia natural products using a biomimetic and retrobiomimetic strategy incorporating structural reassignment of laurefurenynes C–F. Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 11592-11600. [Link]

Highlighted by Organic Chemistry Portal.

8. Chan, H. S. S., Nguyen, Q. N. N., Paton, R. S. and Burton, J. W. Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of Complex Tricyclic Oxonium Ions, Proposed Intermediates in Natural Product Biosynthesis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 40, 15951-15962. [Link]

Highlighted by Science and Nature Reviews Chemistry.