About

Vy M. Dong is a Chancellor's Professor at the University of California, Irvine, within the Department of Chemistry. Her research focuses on chemical biology, particularly on the development of new methods for chemical synthesis and the study of biological processes at the molecular level. She is known for her contributions to the understanding of enzyme mechanisms and for designing innovative chemical tools to probe biological systems. Her work aims to advance the understanding of complex biological functions through chemical approaches, contributing significantly to the fields of chemical biology and organic chemistry.

Research topics

• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Stereochemistry
• Medicinal chemistry

Selected publications

• Enantioselective Catalytic Hydrofunctionalization: Chalcogen Additions to Alkenes

  ACS Catalysis · 2026-04-13

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Hydrofunctionalization represents an efficient and atom-economical method for constructing carbon-chalcogen bonds from alkenes or alkynes. To date, numerous examples of hydrochalcogenation reactions have been developed, enabling the synthesis of compounds with carbon-chalcogen bonds. These advancements not only broaden the scope of synthetic chemistry but also provide valuable tools for further research and development in related fields. This perspective surveys the key advances in intermolecular asymmetric hydrooxygenation, hydrothiolation, and hydroselenation of alkenes. We organize our discussion by nucleophile type and alkene class (olefins, dienes, allenes), examining mechanistic insights and synthetic trends.

  PublisherDOI

• From C─H Feedstocks to Unnatural Amino Acids: Light Twist on the Classic Amidomalonate Synthesis

  ChemRxiv · 2026-04-09

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Both linear and cyclic unnatural amino acids (UAAs) play a central role in drug discovery but remain challenging to access from feedstocks. Inspired by terpene biosynthesis, we designed a simple and unified olefin precursor that can be diverged into constrained cyclic motifs, including prolines, azepanes, carbamates, ethers, and lactones. To access this olefin precursor, we exploit the emerging Pd(I/II) cycle and demonstrate a three-component coupling. This visible light-promoted transformation converts readily available C–H donors, 1,3-butadiene, and amidomalonate esters into functionally rich α-tertiary amino acid precursors. We further show how this achiral motif can furnish enantioenriched UAAs through Liu’s dynamic kinetic resolution. In addition, we build a pyrrolizidine core found in various natural products from simple building blocks, including dichloroethane. Our approach represents a modern twist on the classic amidomalonate synthesis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• EnantioselectivePyrazole Alkylation via Iridium andSquaramide Catalyzed N–H Insertion

  Figshare · 2026-04-29

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  While pyrazoles are privileged scaffolds in medicinal chemistry, their tautomerization and Lewis-basicity pose challenges for enantioselective catalytic alkylation. Here, we report an iridium and squaramide catalyzed N–H insertion that provides a site-selective and enantioselective route to α-pyrazole esters. An Ir catalyst promotes site-selective insertion at the less sterically hindered nitrogen (N_β); the combination of Ir and squaramide catalysts mediates asymmetric protonation with excellent enantiocontrol. These findings establish a strategy for the asymmetric N–H insertion of pyrazoles, providing access to chiral nitrogen heterocycles previously inaccessible by asymmetric catalysis. This concept extends to indazole functionalization and enables the first disclosed asymmetric synthesis of a PARP7 inhibitor.

  PublisherDOI

• CCDC 2512537: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2026-04-30

  datasetOpen accessSenior author

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

• Enantioselective Pyrazole Alkylation via Iridium and Squaramide Catalyzed N–H Insertion

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026-04-29

  articleSenior author

  ); the combination of Ir and squaramide catalysts mediates asymmetric protonation with excellent enantiocontrol. These findings establish a strategy for the asymmetric N-H insertion of pyrazoles, providing access to chiral nitrogen heterocycles previously inaccessible by asymmetric catalysis. This concept extends to indazole functionalization and enables the first disclosed asymmetric synthesis of a PARP7 inhibitor.

  PublisherDOI

• Pathway to P(V)-Stereogenic Phosphoramidates by Enantioselective Yttrium Catalysis

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-06-10 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  P-stereogenic phosphoramidates prove essential in agrochemicals and medicines, but their construction remains a challenge for enantioselective catalysis. We describe a Yttrium-catalyzed desymmetrization supported by Feng-ligands. An achiral oxazolidinyl phosphorodichloridate undergoes enantioselective nucleophilic substitution with phenols at ambient temperatures, followed by a stereospecific addition with amines in one pot. The resulting P-stereogenic phosphoramidate serves as a trifunctional building block to access diverse P-(V) motifs, enabling the stereodivergent synthesis of protected ProTides and the first stereoselective total synthesis of phosmidosine.

  PublisherDOI

• Retraction of “Sorbent Mediated Electrocatalytic Reduction of Dilute CO ₂ to Methane”

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-10-31

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Pathway to P(V)-Stereogenic Phosphoramidates by Enantioselective Yttrium Catalysis

  ChemRxiv · 2025-04-22 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  P-stereogenic phosphoramidates prove essential in agrochemicals and medicines, but their construction remains a challenge for enantioselective catalysis. We describe an Yttrium-catalyzed desymmetrization supported by Feng-ligands. An achiral oxazolidinyl phosphorodichloridate undergoes enantioselective nucleophilic substitution with phenols at ambient temperatures, followed by a stereospecific addition with amines in one pot. The resulting P-stereogenic phosphoramidate serves as a trifunctional building block to access diverse P-(V) motifs, enabling stereodivergent synthesis of protected ProTides and the first stereoselective total synthesis of phosmidosine.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Copper Catalysis with Arynes: Unlocking Site-Selective Arylation of Pyrazoles

  Research Square · 2025-04-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI
• RETRACTED

  RETRACTED: Sorbent Mediated Electrocatalytic Reduction of Dilute CO ₂ to Methane

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-05-06 · 11 citations

  article

  Efficient CO2 utilization is a critical component of closing the anthropogenic carbon cycle. Most studies have focused on the use of pure streams of CO2. However, CO2 is generally available only in dilute streams, which requires capture by sorbents followed by energy-intensive regeneration to release concentrated CO2. Direct utilization of sorbed-CO2 avoids the costly regeneration step, and the sorbent-CO2 interaction can kinetically activate CO2 to tune its reactivity toward products that could otherwise be inaccessible with direct CO2 reduction. We demonstrate that an N-heterocyclic carbene, 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (DPIy), quantitatively reacts with CO2 from dilute streams (0.04 and 10%) to form the sorbent-CO2 substrate 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolium-2-carboxylate (DPICx). Electrocatalyst iron tetraphenylporphyrin chloride (Fe(TPP)Cl) typically reduces CO2 to CO; however, with DPICx as the substrate, the eight-electron reduced product methane (CH4) is produced with a high Faradaic efficiency (>85%) and regeneration of the sorbent DPIy. In addition to the overall energy and capital advantages of integrated CO2 capture and conversion, this result illustrates how sorbents can serve a dual purpose for both CO2 capture and chemical auxiliary purposes to access unique products. CO2 has a spectrum of reactivity with different types of sorbents; thus, these studies demonstrate how sorbent-CO2 interactions can be leveraged for integrated capture and utilization platforms to access a wider range of CO2-derived products.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• SusChem: Innovation Inspired by Amides: Oxidative Ni-catalysis, Cascade Acylations, and Green Peptide Synthesis

  NSF · $586k · 2015–2019

• Sustainable Technologies for Building Molecules: Ethers, Phosphines, and Amino Acids

  NSF · $575k · 2023–2026

• Innovative Tools for Chemical Synthesis: Metal-Hydride Catalysis, Medicinal Motifs, and Molecular Probes

  NIH · $4.0M · 2018–2028

• Catalytic hydroacylation: Transforming C-H bonds into biorelevant esters and ketones

  NIH · $1.3M · 2013–2018

• NIH Grant F32GM068317

  NIH · $115k · 2006

Frequent coauthors

• Alexander Lu

  67 shared

• Vikas A. Gupta

  Emory University

  61 shared

• Sang Mi Suh

  61 shared

• David A. Fruman

  University of California, Irvine

  61 shared

• Madhuri Paul

  University of Bonn

  61 shared

• Joel D. Leverson

  AbbVie (United States)

  61 shared

• Lawrence Boise

  61 shared

• Madeleine Duong

  61 shared

Awards & honors

• Chancellor's Professor