Welcome to the Laboratory of Asymmetric Catalysis and Synthesis (LCSA) headed by Professor Nicolai Cramer. We are a young and dynamic research team working on challenges in asymmetric metal-catalyzed reactions and the synthesis of bioactive natural products.
LATEST NEWS
09.01.2026: Bram’s development of a unified synthesis platform for structurally diverse 1,2,3-trisubstituted cyclopentadienyl ligands and their catalytically potent complexes has been published in JACS. Congratulations, Bram!
05.01.2026: Clara joined the group as a new PhD student. Welcome to the LCSA, Clara!
02.12.2025: Recent work on the iridium(III)-catalysed ionic hydrogenation of pyridines to multi-substituted piperidines by Arthur can be found in Nature Chemistry. Congrats!
29.09.2025: Wilfrido’s new publication on the Co(III)-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols is now available in ACS Catalysis. Check it out!
05.09.2025: Bram earned the Overall Best Poster Presentation award by the American Chemical Society, presenting his exciting work on cyclopentadienyl ligands and their application in C-H-activation catalysis at the International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat) 2025 in Coimbra, Portugal. Congrats Bram!
05.09.2025: Wilfrido was awarded the Poster Prize in Catalysis Science & Technology by the Royal Society of Chemistry for his work on the Co(III)-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols at the International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat) 2025 in Coimbra, Portugal. Congrats Wilfrido!
01.09.2025: Maxime joined the group as a new PhD student. Welcome to the LCSA, Maxime!
11.08.2025: Recent work of the systematic synthesis of chiral CAACs for enantioselective copper-catalyzed conjugate borylation of Michael acceptors by Adrien can be found in ACS Catalysis. Congrats!
15.06.2025: Navadheer successfully represented EPFL at the EuroTeQathon 2025 in Eindhoven, Netherlands and won first prize. Congrats Navadheer!
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
B. Van Den Bossche, N. Cramer, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, XX, XXX-XXX: “Unified Synthesis Platform for 1,2,3-Trisubstituted Cyclopentadienyl Ligands Decouples Sterics from Electronics”
A. Despois, N. Cramer, Nat. Chem. 2025, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-02008-2: “Iridium(III)-catalysed ionic hydrogenation of pyridines to multisubstituted piperidines”
W. E. Almaraz-Ortiz, N. Cramer, ACS Catal. 2025, 15, 17436: “Cobalt(III)-Catalyzed Synthesis of Chiral 1,2-Amino Alcohols by C–H Carboamidation”
A. Madron du Vigné, N. Cramer, ACS Catal. 2025, 15, 15102: “Systematic Synthesis of Chiral CAACs with Three Independent Stereogenic Centers for Enantioselective Copper-Catalyzed Conjugate Borylation of Michael Acceptors”
Y.-X. Cao, A.-S. Chauvin, S. Tong, L. Alama, N. Cramer, Nat. Catal. 2025, doi: 10.1038/s41929-025-01352-3: “Accessing Carbon, Boron and Germanium Spiro Stereocenters in a Unified Catalytic Enantioselective Approach“
L. K. Verdhi, M. D. Wodrich, N. Cramer, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 15041-15049: “Enantioselective Cobalt(III)-Catalyzed [4 + 1] Annulation of Benzamides: Cyclopropenes as One-Carbon Synthons”
S. Jana, M. D. Wodrich, N. Cramer, Nat. Commun. 2025, 16, 3293-3301: “Enantioselective acyl-trifluoromethylation of olefins by bulky thiazolium carbene catalysis”