Research Interests

Shaun Murphree earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Colgate University in 1984. After a brief stint in industry, he went on to do graduate work in organic chemistry with Prof. Albert Padwa at Emory University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1991. From there, he pursued post-doctoral research with Prof. Peter Jacobi at Wesleyan University, where he was engaged in the total synthesis of thienamycin, a beta-lactam antibiotic. After returning to the world of industrial chemistry at Bayer Corporation for seven years, Murphree joined the faculty at Allegheny in 1999.

Research in the Murphree group focuses mainly on synthetic methodology, particularly through the use of sulfones. For example, the sulfone-based reagent 2,3-dibromo-1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1-propene, or DBP, reacts with 1,3-diketones to form 2,4-disubstituted furans, a structural motif found in some naturally occurring products of biological and industrial interest.

Ongoing projects are exploring the synthetic utility of this methodology, as well as the chemistry of other novel sulfonyl-substituted small molecules.

An additional research interest involves the development of more environmentally benign modifications of classical industrial syntheses through the use of catalytic methods.