Sponsored by Dr. Seemon H. Pines, Prof. Peter and Mrs. Sandra Beak, Dr. Terry M. Balthazor, Merck & Co. and the Obiter Company
Allerton Park, Saturday, November 1, 2025
2025 Conference Schedule
| 8:00 am | Check-in / Continental Breakfast |
| Session I: | NICK WADE, CHAIR |
| 8:30 am | Opening Remarks |
| 8:50 am | PROF. MICHAEL J. STRAUSS Cu-Catalyzed C–N and C–O Bond-Forming Reactions Utilizing N1,N2-Diarylbenzene-1,2- Diamine Ligands |
| 9:10 am | PROF. MAYUKO ISOMURA Discovery of a General Chiral Catalyst Through SFC-MS High-Throughput Screening |
| 9:30 am | ALEC MURRAY (PROF. MARTIN D. BURKE) A Prosthetic Reaction |
| 9:50 am | THOMAS TRZUPEK (PROF. PAUL J. HERGENROTHER) A Selective Anticancer Compound from Diversification of Oleanolic Acid |
| 10:10 am | Poster Session I Break for poster session in Gallery with snacks/coffee Talks will resume in library at 10:50 am |
| 11:00 am | JAKE WEAVER (PROF. M. CHRISTINA WHITE) Development of a General Model for Predicting Site-Selectivity in Electrophilic C—H Oxidations |
| 11:20 am | SURITRA BANDYOPADHYAY (PROF. JEFFERSON CHAN) A 19F Magnetic Resonance Molecular Reporter for Activity-Based Sensing of pH and Analyte |
| 11:50 am | Lunch in the Main Dining Room - Group I Tables will be assigned to each person previously. Tables will be seated and called to go through buffet. |
| 12:40 pm | Lunch in the Main Dining Room - Group II Tables will be assigned to each person previously. Tables will be seated and called to go through buffet. |
| Session II: | JEFFREY CHANCE, CHAIR |
| 1:40 pm | MATTHEW ALBRITTON (PROF. SCOTT E. DENMARK) Development and Mechanistic Investigation of an Aqueous, Indium-Catalyzed Native Carbohydrate Allylation Using an Allylboronic Acid Pinacol Ester |
| 2:00 pm | SHAOFENG HUANG (PROF. JEFFREY S. MOORE) High-Tg Olefin Resins via FROMP: Toward Next-Generation Polymers |
| 2:20 pm | Poster Session II Poster session and snacks in the Gallery. Talks resume in the library at 3:10 p.m. |
| 3:10 pm | JEFF CHEN (PROF. WILFRED A. VAN DER DONK) A Journey of Furan-Based Monomers in Polymerization Reactions |
| 3:30 pm | GLENN BLADE (PROF. LIVIU M. MIRICA) Development of Improved Immunotherapy Cancer Treatments |
| 3:50 pm | Break |
| 4:05 pm | Closing Remarks and Presentation of the Seemon H. Pines Award, Verbanac Awards, and Terry Balthazor Awards |
The annual Beak-Pines Organic Area Allerton Conference is held at beautiful Allerton Park, an English-style estate located approximately 20 miles southwest of Champaign. At this conference one student from each organic chemistry research group presents his/her work in the old library of the Robert Allerton House. Two more students from each group present their work in the form of a poster. Lunch is enjoyed in the grand dining hall, and after lunch free time is used to wander through the more than 5,000 acres of forest and prairie along the Sangamon River. The park features formal English gardens and over 100 outdoor sculptures. At the end of the day, the Seemon Pines award is given to the most outstanding presentation.