Driven by Natural Products! Enduring Forums for Discovery at the Chemistry-Biology Interface
Latest News
September, 2024
Patrick, Ben, and Kristiana's work marrying acylammonium catalysis and Giese additions is published in JOC! Way to go!
We have a new Postdoctoral scholar, Alex Dohoda! Welcome to the Romo lab!
June, 2024
Welcome to our new Postdoctoral scholar, Tales Goulart!
May, 2024
We bid farewell to our undergrads Shengshu and Kristiana as they head to graduate school. Good luck at Rice and UT Southwestern Medical Center!
The 2nd years have both passed their precandidacy exams! Congratulations Joel and Ben!
February, 2024
Tammy has started a new position at the Truett Theological Seminary and will be greatly missed. Rick Joy is our new financial administrator. Welcome to the Romo Group!
September, 2023
We have a new administrative assistant, Aimee Moraitis. Welcome to the Romo Group!
July, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Patrick Sutter for defending his dissertation titled "Single Electron Studies of Acylammonium Intermediates, Zinc-Mediated Carboxylations in Flow, and the Total Synthesis of (–)-Inthomycin C!" Best wishes as you start at Cogent Biosciences!
Congratulations to Dr. Sigrid Kiledal for defending her thesis titled "Pharmacophore Directed Retrosynthesis Applied to the Ion Channel Inhibitor Waixenicin A; Multicomponent, Enantioselective Organocatalytic Synthesis of Tetrahydropyridazinones!"
June, 2023
All of the 3rd years passed their exams! Congrats Jackie, Matt, and Adam on PhD candidacy!
Congratulations to Dr. Evan Woods for successfully defending his dissertation focusing on Pharmacophore-Directed Retrosynthesis applied to Salarin C and Phainanoid F! Good luck at AstraZeneca!
Congrats to Patrick, Guowei and Sreekumar for the first Romo group publication of the year! Zinc-mediated carboxylations in flow; out now in RSC Advances!
A collaborative effort between the Romo/Wood labs is now published in the Special Issue honoring Prof. Wood in Tetrahedron Letters. Congrats Nobuyuki and Tae!
September 2022
Total Synthesis of Rameswaralide Utilizing a Pharmacophore-Directed Retrosynthetic Strategy
We are excited to report the total synthesis of rameswarelide via a pharmacophore-directed retrosynthetic strategy! Congrats to Nate on his publication, out now in JACS ASAP!
Congratulations to Evan and Roxane on their recently published article in Organic Letters!
May 2022
Congratulations to Nate Truax for succefully defending his dissertation! Good luck in the Baran lab!
Congrats to Sreekumar on his recent publication on salinosporamide, out now in Nat. Chem. Biol.!
Congratulations to Sigrid, Patrick and Evan for receiving the Baylor Graduate School travel award to present their research at FlotHet and ACS this spring!
Congratulations to Sigrid, Roxane and Sreekumar on their work towards the enantioselective synthesis of tetrahydropyridazinones, accepted to Org. Lett.!
Congratulations to Conner and Dr. Chaheine on their organic synthesis procedure employing the NCMPL, accepted to Org. Syn.!
Congratulations to Haoran on his synthesis of Agelastatin A and derivatives, published in Tetrahedron!
Congratulations to Keighley (Taube group) and Tao on their publication exploring the anticancer activity of ophiobolin A, published in Scientific Reports!
November, 2020
Enantioselective, Organocatalytic Strategy for the Oxazolomycin Core: Formal Synthesis of (+)-Neooxazolomycin
More congratulations to Christian on his publication of his PhD work on the oxazolomycins in Organic Letters!
November, 2020
Mad props to Christian for defending his PhD Thesis, focusing on his work towards the total synthesis of oxazolomycin B and his completed formal synthesis of neooxazolomycin. Yay Dr. Chaheine!
Congratulations to Sigrid for her collaborative review on waixenicin A, published in Acta Pharmacologica Sinica!
Big congrats to Nate for his review being accepted to Natural Product Reports on the different approaches to total synthesis and drug discovery! Make sure to read his description of our concept of Pharmacophore-Directed Retrosynthesis and how we have applied it to natural prodcuts.
October, 2020
Congratulations to Guowei on successfully defending his dissertation and best of wishes with his new postdoc position in the Yu lab at SCRIPPS!
March, 2020
Congratulations to Tao on successfully defending his dissertation and best of wishes with his new postdoc position in the Cravatt lab at SCRIPPS!
February, 2020
Generation and Reactivity of 2-Amido-1,3-diaminoallyl Cations: Cyclic Guanidine Annulations via Net (3 + 2) and (4 + 3) Cycloadditions
Congratulations to Ragha and Haoran on their recent publication on Guanidine Annulations via Net (3 + 2) and (4 + 3) Cycloadditions, published in Organic Letters!
November, 2019
New group members
Welcome to our new graduate student, Conner Song!
September, 2019
Pharmacophore-Directed Retrosynthesis Applied to Rameswaralide: Synthesis and Bioactivity of Sinularia Natural Product Tricyclic Cores
Congratulations to Nate for his recent publication on pharmacophore-directed retrosynthetic studies of Rameswaralide, published in Organic Letters!
Go team Gracillin! Congratulations to Christian, Mike and our wonderful collaborators in the Botana group for their work with the Gracillin A derivatives, recently published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience!
Congratulations to Tao for his work on the synthesis of Hypercalin C in collaboration with the Taube lab at Baylor, published in Angewandte Chemie!
A Novel Actin Binding Drug with In Vivo Efficacy
January, 2019Congratulations to the TAMU LINCHPIN lab and collaborators for the discovery of a new actin binding drug published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy!
New group members
January, 2019Welcome to our two new graduate students, Evan Woods and Patrick Sutter!
(−)-Homosalinosporamide A and Its Mode of Proteasome Inhibition: An X-ray Crystallographic Study
July, 2018Props to Sreekumar and Henry for their Marine Drugs paper on the biological mode of action of (-)-Homosalinosporamide!
Enantioselective Synthesis of Medium-Sized Lactams via Chiral α,ß-Unsaturated Acylammonium Salts
April, 2018Congratulations to Guowei, Masaki and Sreekumar on their Angewante Chemie paper describing the synthesis of medium sized rings using our acylammonium methodology!
Welcome to Sigrid, Jamie and Nate!
December, 2017A warm welcome to our new first year graduate students, Nathanyal Truax, Jamie Suzuki and Sigrid Kiledal!
Multicomponent, Enantioselective Michael-Michael-Aldol-β-Lactonizations Delivering Complex β-Lactones
December, 2017Congratulations to Khoi for his paper on the multicomponent acylammonium-catalyzed Michael-Michael-Aldol-Lactonization reaction in J. Org. Chem!
Quantitative Chemoproteomic Profiling Reveals Multiple Target Interactions of Spongiolactone Derivatives in Leukemia Cells
November, 2017Big shout out to Tao as well as previous members Natalie and Ta for their collaborative work with Prof. Stefan Sieber in Chem. Comm. on derivatives of spongiolactone!
Diastereo- and Enantioselective Synthesis of Bi- and Tricyclic N-Heterocycle-Fused β-Lactones
November, 2017Kudos to Weixu for his paper in J. Org. Chem. on the synthesis of N-heterocycle fused β-Lactones!
Dr. Michael Conner
October, 2017Welcome to our new postdoc Dr. Michael Conner! Mike obtained his PhD from Indiana University under Dr. Kevin Brown.
Congratulations to Morgan and JC for their collaborative work with Prof. Jun Liu in Cell Chem. Bio. on the discovery of the cellular target of Agelastatin A!
Congrats to Mikail and Weixu for their paper accepted in Org. Biomol. Chem. describing enantioselective Diels-Alder-Lactamization organocascades employing a furan-based diene.
A Strategy for Dual Inhibition of the Proteasome and Fatty Acid Synthase with Belactosin C-Orlistat Hybrids
January, 2017Congrats to Mingzhao, Omar, Ken and the TAMU MiniPharma for their paper accepted in Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. on a strategy for dual inhibition of the proteasome and fatty acid synthase with belactosin C-Orlistat hybrids.
Telescoped Synthesis of γ-Bromo-β-Lactones from Allylic Bromides Employing Carbon Dioxide
January, 2017Congrats to Sreekumar for his publication in Isr. J. Chem. on the telescoped synthesis of γ-bromo-β-lactones from allylic bromides employing carbon dioxide.
Dr. Venkata Kovvuri
July, 2016Welcome to our new postdoc Dr. Venkata Kovvuri (Ph.D., with Dr. J. S. Yadav, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology)
Much kudos to Khoi for his significant achievement in writing a book chapter that's now published!
Congrats to Mikail for his paper on Diels‐Alder‐Initiated Organocascades Employing α,β-Unsaturated Acylammonium Salts has just been accepted by Chemical Science.
Review on Acylammonium Salts
July, 2016Congrats to Sreekumar for his review article on ACIE about the utility of unsaturated acylammonium salts in organocatalysis.
Visiting Scholar Masaki Yamagami
July, 2016Welcome to Masaki Yamagami, visiting scholar from Osaka University (From Prof. Michio Murata)!
Assistant Professor Dr. Paul Gladen
May, 2016Congratulations to Dr. Paul Gladen on his new assistant professorship at Lake Forest College in Chicago!
Derivatization of Agelastatin A Leading to Bioactive Analogs and a Trifunctional Probe
15 April, 2016Kudos to previous members Dr. Morgan Jouanneau and Dr. JC Reyes on their publication in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters on derivatives and bioactive analogs of Agelastatin A!
Postdoc Dr. Morgan Jouanneau
January, 2016Congratulations to Dr. Morgan Jouanneau on his postdoc in Dr. Janine Cossy's group!
Postdoc Dr. Mikail Abbasov
January, 2016Kudos to Dr. Mikail Abbasov for successfully defending his dissertation and his new postdoc position in the Cravatt lab at SCRIPPS!
Visiting Scholar Ariane Fernandes Bertonha
November, 2015Welcome to Ariane Fernandes Bertonha, visiting scholar from São Paulo University (from Prof. R. Berlinck’s Group)!
HP Ink Chemist Dr. Natalie Harvey
September, 2015Congratulations to Dr. Natalie Harvey for successfully defending her dissertation and her new position as an Ink Chemist at HP!
Utility and NMR studies of Acylammonium Salts
10 March, 2015Kudos to Sreekumar and Khoi for their recently published Tetrahedron Lett. article describing the utility and NMR studies of acylammonium salts!
Synthesis of (±)-Spongiolactone
8 December, 2014Kudos to Natalie for her recently published Chem. Eur. J. article describing the total synthesis of (±)-Spongiolactone!
2-Bromo-N-Propyl Pyridinium Triflate
20 October, 2014Congrats to Morgan for his contribution to Encyl. Reag. Org. Syn. describing the modified Mukaiyama's reagent!
Dr. Paul Gladen (Ph.D. w/ David Williams, Indiana University)
4 September, 2014Welcome to our new post-doc Dr. Paul Gladen (Ph.D. w/ David Williams, Indiana University).
Congrats to Mikail for his recently published highlight in Nat. Prod. Rep. on asymmetric covalent organocatalysis in scalable natural product synthesis.
Congrats to Mikail for receiving the Richard W. Schmude, Jr. Endowed Graduate Scholarship in Chemistry.
Spring 2014 National ACS Meeting in Dallas, TX
16–20 March, 2014Congrats to Sreekumar, Mikail, Natalie, and Khoi on their successful presentations at the National ACS Meeting in Dallas!
Kudos to Mikail for his recently accepted J. Am. Chem. Soc. communication describing a new and versatile class of chiral dienophiles! Article was featured in JACS Spotlights, Synfacts and Advances in Engineering!
Research Chemist Dr. Morgan Shirley (Chevron, Richmond/San Francisco)
12 February, 2014Congrats to Dr. Morgan Shirley for successfully defending her dissertation and starting her positions as a Research Chemist at Chevron.
Chemo- and Site-Selective Derivatizations of Natural Products
27 January, 2014Congrats to Omar for his recently published review in Nat. Prod. Rep. on the chemo- and site-selective derivatizations of natural products.
Welcome to our new post-doc Dr. Morgan Jouanneau (Ph.D. w/ Jean-Pierre Férézou, Université Paris-Sud 11).
Congrats to Mikail for receiving the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation Grant and Martell Travel Award.
Direct Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of N-Heterocycles from Commodity Acid Chlorides
31 October, 2013Kudos to Sreekumar and Khoi for their recently published Angew. Chem. article describing an organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of N-heterocycles! Article was highlighted in Synfacts (heterocycles) and Synfacts (organocatalysis)!
Rapid Assembly of Complex Cyclopentanes Employing Chiral, Acylammonium Intermediates
26 September, 2013Congrats to Gang, Morgan, Khoi and Rae Lynn for their recently published Nature Chem. article describing a rapid assembly of complex cyclopentanes! Article was highlighted in C&EN, BioNewTexas, and Synform!
Dr. Nathan Collett (Ph.D. w/ Rich Carter, Oregon State University)
2 September, 2013Welcome to our new post-doc Dr. Nathan Collett (Ph.D. w/ Rich Carter, Oregon State University).
Congrats to Dr. JC Reyes for successfully defending his dissertation and starting his positions as a Research Chemist at Dow Chemical Co.
Congrats to Beatrice and Omar for their short synthesis of Homobenzotetramisole and congeners in J. Org. Chem.!
Simultaneous Structure–Activity Studies and Arming of Natural Products by C–H Amination
19 May, 2013Congrats to Jing, Cong-Ying and our collaborators in the Cravatt and Rodriguez laboratories for our joint paper in Nature Chemistry.
Congrats to Morgan Shirley for receiving the Montgomery Graduate Endowed Fellowship, Buck Weirus Aggie Spirit Award, and Guseman Award.
Congrats to JC Reyes for receiving the Dow Chemical Graduate Fellowship and Sharon Dabney Memorial Scholarship.
Welcome to our new post-doc Dr. Fred Briones (Ph.D. w/ Huw Davies, Emory University).
Congrats to Dr. Gang Liu for successfully defending his dissertation and starting his positions as a Medicinal Chemist at MD Anderson, Institute for Applied Cancer Sciences.
Congrats to JC for his bioinspired synthesis of Agelastatin A that appeared in Angewandte Chemie! Article was featured on back cover, graphic contributed by JC!
Dr. Carolyn Leverett secured a Research Scientist position at Pfizer (Groton, CT)! Congrats Carolyn!
Former graduate student, Asst. Prof. Andy Mitchell (Illinois State University) received his first independent grant from Research Corporation! Way to go Andy!
Congrats to Wang for his contribution to the synthesis of 15N-labelled oroidin published in JNP in collaborative biosynthetic studies with the Molinski group.
Pyrrole-Aminoimidazole Alkaloid Metabiosynthesis with Marine Sponges
14 February, 2012Congrats to Wang for his collaborative biosynthetic studies with the Molinski group (UC San Diego) to appear in Angewandte Chemie!
Cyclopropanations of Natural Products for Simultaneous Arming and Structure Activity Studies
13 February, 2012Omar’s contribution to our toolbox for natural product simultaneous arming via cyclopropanations will appear in Org. Lett. Congrats!
Best wishes to Ta (Supakarn) as she starts a new chapter as an Asst. Professor in the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand having completed her Ph.D. in Fall 2011!
LKT Laboratories, Inc. - Specialty Biochemical Resource
2 February, 2012Congrats to Henry Nguyen who recently secured a Senior Scientist position at LKT Laboratories, Inc. in Minnesota!
ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Research Symposium
30, January 2012Congrats to JC for being the Departmental nominee for the ACS Division of Org. Chem. Research Symposium!
A Diastereoselective, Nucleophile-Promoted Aldol-Lactonization of Ketoacids Leading to Bicyclic-β-Lactones
19 January, 2012Kudos to Gang and Morgan for their recently accepted JOC Note describing a new and improved NCAL procedure!
Mechanistic Investigations of the ZnCl2-Mediated Tandem Mukaiyama Aldol Lactonization
30 December, 2011A full paper describing the full, rich, and long saga of the TMAL mechanism appeared in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Congrats to Zhao, Andy, and Ravi and thanks to Lisa (Lab for Molecular Simulation) for computational efforts!
Diazo Reagents for Simultaneous Arming/SAR Studies of Alcohol-Containing Natural Products via OH Insertion
26 August, 2011Congrats to Ta (Supakarn) for her paper in ACS Chem. Biol. describing a strategy for natural product tagging in collaboration with the Liu Group at Johns Hopkins! Article was featured on cover, graphic contributed by Mikail!
Congrats to Carolyn for her mechanistic paper in JOC in collaboration with the Tantillo group at UC Davis!
Total Synthesis of (+)-Omphadiol
14 July, 2011Congrats to Gang for his elegant synthesis of Omphadiol that appeared in Angewandte Chemie! Article was featured on cover, graphic contributed by Mikail! Also highlighted on B.R.S.M. and TotallySynthetic blogs and in Synfacts!
Biosynthesis, Asymmetric Synthesis, and Pharmacology of Pyrrole-2-Aminoimidazole Marine Alkaloids
3 July, 2011Congrats to Manuel for his major contributions to the review in Natural Product Reports on the Pyrrole Aminoimidazole Alkaloids. Review was featured on cover, graphic contributed by Mikail!
Organocatalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of Bicyclic ß-Lactones from Aldehyde Acids via NCAL
28 March, 2011Our first Organic Synthesis procedure was published! Congrats to Henry, Seongho, Huda, and Diana!
Romo earns 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award for Research
24 March, 2011The 2011 Distinguished Achievement Awards will be formally presented at 1:30 p.m. April 27 during a ceremony in Rudder Theater. In recognition of their achievements, each recipient will receive a $4,000 cash gift, an engraved watch and a commemorative plaque.
Congrats to Henry, Gil, and Genzyme collaborators on the Salinosporamide A full story in JOC as a featured article! Also featured as January JOC issue cover art! Contribution by Ranjith C. Perumalil (Visual Arts Dept., TAMU) and our own Mikail!
Asymmetric NCAL with Ketoacids
4 November, 2010Congrats to Carolyn and Vikram on their ACIE paper describing a practical, asymmetric NCAL with Ketoacids.
Bioinspired Total Synthesis of (-)-Salinosporamide A and Derivatives
3 November, 2010Congrats to Henry, Gil, and Genzyme collaborators on the Salinosporamide A - full story in JOC as a featured article.
A. E. Martell Travel Awards
1 November, 2010Congrats to Ta, Morgan, and Gang on receiving the A. E. Martell Travel Award for the Spring ACS National Meeting.
Double Diastereoselective NCAL
12 August, 2010Congrats to Kay and Kevin on their OL paper describing Double Diastereoselective NCAL reactions and Oxygen Heterocycle-Fused Beta-Lactones.
Mild Arming and Derivatization of Natural Products
13 April, 2010Another mild natural product derivatization strategy was published in OL. Congrats to Cong-Ying, Jing, and Mahesh.
Synthesis of 15N-Oroidin and Biosynthetic Studies by Microscale 1H−15N HSQC and FTMS
22 January, 2010Congrats to Wang and JC for their synthesis of 15N-labelled oroidin published in JNP in collaborative biosynthetic studies with the Molinski group.
Inhibition of Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay by Pateamine A
28 August, 2009A new twist in the Pateamine A story was described in JBC. Congrats to the Liu-Romo team.
