The Holger Erdtman lectures are annual lectures from highly distinguished young scientists in the organic chemistry field. They are arranged in recognition of Holger Erdtman, Professor of organic chemistry at KTH between 1945 and 1969, and sponsored by the Aulin-Erdtman foundation.

The 18th Holger Erdtman Lecture will be given by Professor Kenichiro Itami, Nagoya University, Japan.

Title: Exploring Nanocarbon Materials and Plant Biology by C-H Activation

Abstract: Our group has focused on catalyst-enabling synthetic chemistry with broad directions, including applications in pharmaceuticals, plant/animal chemical biology, π-conjugated materials, and molecular nanocarbons. In this talk, I will describe the overview and some of our recently developed C-H activation catalysts. We have shown that the C-H activation can streamline the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant molecules and natural products. In this talk, we will also demonstrate the power of C-H activation in the discovery of new small molecules that can control plant growth and mammalian biological clocks. We have also shown that the site-selective π-extension by C-H activation is an ideal methodology for preparing organic π-materials and molecular nanocarbons. In this talk, the controlled synthesis of nanographenes and the discovery of three-dimensional warped nanographenes enabled by C-H activation will be also described.

More on Ken Itami:
http://synth.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp/wordpress/?lang=en
http://www3.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp/wordpress/?page_id=949&lang=en

More on the Erdtman lectures:
http://www.kth.se/che/divisions/orgkem/erdtman