Established in 2010, Dr. Magolan's organic chemistry research group is part of the
Department of Chemistry at the University of Idaho located in Moscow, Idaho.
Our work includes:
- heterocyclic synthetic methods
- medicinal chemistry
- green chemistry
- natural products synthesis
Primarily, we discover and develop new methods of chemical synthesis that improve
access to valuable heterocyclic compounds.
Synthesis of heterocycles is an important component of drug-discovery. We are interested
in conducting structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies of heterocyclic compounds
of medical interest in a range of therapeutic areas. One area of emphasis in our
lab is anti-pancreatic cancer drug discovery and development.
We encourage you to explore these pages and contact Dr. Magolan should you have any
questions. Enquiries regarding cross-disciplinary collaborative opportunities are
always welcome.
Graduate research positions are now available.
December 2012 - Undergraduate group member Steve Holmbo is awarded a 2012 Brian and
Gayle Hill Fellowship. Congratulations Steve!
October 2012 - The work of former undergraduate researchers Nick Weires and Jared
Boster is published in the European Journal of Chemistry! The paper describes the
use of concurrent heterogeneous catalysis with Pd/C and montmorillonite clay to prepare
benzimidazoles.
August 2012 - Hugo Araujo begins graduate studies in the group! An new batch of
undergraduate researchers join the team: Steve Holmbo, Connor Farley, Leslie Nickerson,
and Ryan Gole. Welcome and good luck!
August 2012 - Sarah Vukelich wins a poster award at the Idaho INBRE conference for
her poster describing her synthetic progress towards the anti-depressant natural
product veranamine. Congratulations Sarah!
May 2012 - Dr. Magolan and four students travel to Calgary, Canada to attend the
CSC National Conference and Exhibition.
May 2012 - Sarah Vukelich obtains an INBRE fellowship for the summer of 2012! Jason
Laflemme joins us for the summer as an INBRE intern from Brigham Young University
Idaho. Eric Hall joins the group as a North Idaho College INBRE intern. Congratulations
Sarah! Welcome Jason and Eric!
April 2012 - Nicholas Weires graduates from UI and receives the John B. George Award
as the top graduating senior in the College of Science! Nick now begins graduate
studies at UCLA in Professor Niel Garg’s research group. Congratulations and good
luck!
April 2012 - Dr. Magolan is awarded a University of Idaho Seed Grant for development
of synthetic methodology that uses ambient air and clay minerals to achieve environmentally
friendly oxidative synthetic methods.
January 2012 - The group welcomes three new members. Jared Boster comes to us as
an INBRE intern from Brigham Young University Idaho. Brady Rinaldi becomes the first
freshman research student in our lab. And Leslie Nickerson takes on a challenging
independent out-of-lab safety-related project this semester. Welcome and good luck
to all!
November 2011 - Undergraduate group member Sarah Vukelich is awarded a 2011 Brian
and Gayle Hill Fellowship for her proposal entitled “New Catalytic Oxidations for
the Synthesis of Valuable Heterocycles”. Congratulations Sarah!
October 2011 - Two group members are recognized with awards at the 7’th Annual College
of Science Student Research Exposition. Nick Weires wins first place in the undergraduate
competition with his poster entitled “Multi Component Clay-Catalyzed Syntheses of
Pharmaceutically Relevant Heterocycles”. Megha Karki receives the Sigma Xi Scientific
Research Society Award in the Graduate Division with her poster entitled “Aerobic
Oxidation Catalyzed by Clay: Rapid Green Synthesis of Heteroaromatic Scaffolds”.
Congratulations Nick and Megha!
September 2011 - The group welcomes University of Idaho undergrads Sarah Vukelich
and Chris Maze as well as Brigham Young University Idaho undergraduate intern Judd
Durrant. Welcome and best of luck in the lab!
August 2011 - Nick Weires is awarded first place (faculty choice award) in the INBRE
Conference poster competition for an eye-catching poster describing his procedurally
simple synthesis of benzimidazoles from nitroanilines and aldehydes under reductive
(transfer hydrogenation) conditions mediated by heterogeneous combination of Pd/C
and acid-treated clay. Congratulations Nick!
May 2011 - Undergraduate student Mason Workman joins the group for the summer. Welcome
to the lab Mason! The entire group begins our first annual organic chemistry 'appreciation-development'
program entitled 'Summer of Clayden" (and Greeves, Warren, and Wothers of course.)
Good luck to all.
March 2011 - Undergraduate group member Nick Weires is awarded both a 2011 Brian
and Gayle Hill Fellowship and an Idaho INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research
Excellence) summer fellowship to support his research efforts in our group. Congratulations
Nick!
January 2011 - New graduate student Ebenezer Jones-Mensah joins the group. Welcome
Ebenezer!
September 2010 - Graduate student Megha Karki joins the group along with undergrads:
Nick Weires, Caleb Hopwood, Hugo Araujo, Brian Vo, and Brett Kilcup. Research begins
in the lab. The group website goes online.
August, 2010 - Dr. Magolan arrives in beautiful Idaho, the doors are opened, and
lab setup begins.
