Dr. Gimeno, doctoral candidate under the supervision of Prof. Marcos García Suero, has successfully defended his PhD thesis. The dissertation, entitled Stereoselective Single-Carbon Insertion into C–C Bonds by Carbynoid Species has been publicly defended on Thursday, 11 December 2025.
Abstract
The optimization of lead compounds in medicinal chemistry is tightly linked to advances in organic synthesis, yet traditional strategies often rely on de novo synthesis, making the process costly and time-consuming. The emergence of skeletal editing has provided a powerful alternative, enabling late-stage remodelling of molecular backbones through the insertion, deletion, or transmutation of single atoms while preserving the relative orientation of pendant substituents. Although its precise definition has been debated, skeletal editing is generally understood as transformations that selectively reshape the molecular core, whereas reactions confined to peripheral functional groups are categorized as peripheral editing. Within this framework, single-carbon insertion has attracted particular attention, as it allows the direct incorporation of a carbon atom into preexisting bonds, streamlining synthetic routes, expanding chemical space, and providing access to scaffolds otherwise difficult to obtain.
In this doctoral thesis will find the discovery and development of new stereoselective single-carbon insertion methodologies based on carbynoid species. Two complementary strategies are presented: the modification of molecular skeletons through the insertion of a monovalent carbon atom into C–C single bonds, and the atroposelective ring expansion of biaryl scaffolds. Altogether, this thesis highlights the potential of carbyne transfer as a powerful tool for skeletal editing, enabling access to previously unattainable regions of chemical space and offering new opportunities for the streamlined synthesis of complex scaffolds and molecules of relevance in drug.
The evaluation committee has been composed of Prof. José M. Lassaletta (Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas CSIC-US, Spain), Prof. José L. Vicario (Universidad del País Vasco, Spain) and Prof. Dorota Gryko (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)
La entrada ¡Felicidades, Dr. Gimeno Alfonso! se publicó primero en ICIQ.