The Hong group conducts research at the interface of synthetic and physical organic, inorganic, and computational chemistry with an emphasis on catalytic method development. The central objective of our lab is to establish mechanistic principles and design new reagents and catalysts that express “non-canonical” reactivity deviating from the general consensus on organic chemistry. To this end, a full range of elements in the periodic table –from main group elements to transition metals– are leveraged separately or synergistically. We apply interdisciplinary approaches based on mechanism-informed hypotheses and computer-assisted principles to delve deeper into the system of interest. Taken together, we hope to build up new conceptual frameworks and ultimately invent first-in-class molecular catalysis, enabling innovative and sustainable chemical transformations and revealing hitherto unknown opportunities in chemical synthesis.

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, KAIST, Republic of Korea, 2015 – 2020.
• B.S. in Chemistry, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (double majors), KAIST, Republic of Korea, 2011-2015.

• Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, 2022-present.
• Postdoctoral Associate/Fellow, MIT, USA, 2021-2022
• Research Fellow, IBS, Republic of Korea, 2020-2021

1. S. Y. Hong and A. T. Radosevich*, Chemoselective Primary Amination of Aryl Boronic Acids by PIII/PV=OCatalysis: Synthetic Capture of the Transient Nef Intermediate HNO, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2022, 144, 8902–8907.
2. S. Kim, D. Kim, S. Y. Hong* and S. Chang*, Tuning Orbital Symmetry of Iridium Nitrenoid Enables Catalytic Diastereoand Enantioselective Alkene Difunctionalizations, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2021, 143, 10, 3993–4004. (*Co-corresponding authors)
3. S. Y. Hong, D. Kim and S. Chang*, Catalytic Access to Carbocation Intermediates via Nitrenoid Transfer Leading to Allylic Lactams, Nat. Catal., 2021, 4, 79−88.
4. S. Y. Hong and S. Chang* Stereodefined Access to Lactams via Olefin Difunctionalization: Iridium Nitrenoids as a Motif of LUMO-Controlled Dipoles, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 10399−10408.
5. S. Y. Hong, J. Son, D. Kim, and S. Chang*; Ir(III)-Catalyzed Stereoselective Haloamidation of Alkynes Enabled by Ligand Participation, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 12359-12363.
6. S. Y. Hong, Y. Park, Y. Hwang, Y. Kim, M.-H. Baik,* and S. Chang* Selective formation of γ-lactams via C–H amidation enabled by tailored iridium catalysts, Science, 2018, 359, 1016-1021.