overview
Dr. Chris Lorenc is a patent agent in the Intellectual Property group in the firm’s Boston office. His work involves patent prosecution in the Life Sciences, including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, small molecules, and chemistry.
Prior to joining Burns & Levinson, Chris was a postdoctoral research scientist with Jack Norton at Columbia University where his research involved replacing tin hydrides in pharmaceutically useful radical cyclization reactions with cobalt and vanadium complexes using hydrogen gas. He has over two years of process experience in industry working on the development of innovative synthetic methods and synthesis of complex molecules. His graduate studies at the University of Connecticut involved method development and new reaction discovery in the synthesis of natural product-like molecules. His work included phosphine-mediated cycloisomerization of alkynyl hemiketals, the rearrangement of spiroketals, and small library synthesis/SAR studies of desoamine analogs. He is the recipient of the Boehringer-Ingelheim Doctoral Scholarship for Organic Chemistry (2013) which allowed him to spend six months in Chemical Development and six months in Medicinal Chemistry at Boehringer-Ingelheim. While at Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr. Lorenc developed a direct route to the synthesis of α-(N-hydroxy)amino amides via carbamoyl anion addition to nitrones. He also demonstrated the selective deprotection of tertiary amides containing an N-isopropyl group.
education
Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Connecticut
B.A, with honors, Hamilton College
admissions
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
honors & awards
Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Grant (2014)
Boehringer-Ingelheim Doctoral Scholarship for Organic Chemistry (2013)
Departmental Honors (2010)
Elihu Root Fellowship (2010)
articles
Lorenc, C.; Vibbert, H.B.; Yao, C.; Norton, J.R. ‘H· Transfer-Initiated Synthesis of γ-Lactams: Interpretation of Cycloisomerization and Hydrogenation Ratios’ ACS Catal. 2019, 9(11), 10294-10298
Cannone, Z.; Shaqra, A.M.; Lorenc, C.; Henowitz, L.; Keshipeddy, S.; Robinson, V.L.; Zweifach, A.; Wright, D.; Peczuh, M.W. ‘Post-Glycosylation Diversification (PGD): An Approach for Assembling Collections of Glycosylated Small Molecules’ ACS Comb. Sci. 2019, 21, 192-197.
Kuo, J.L.; Lorenc, C.; Abuyuan, J.M.; Norton, J.R. ‘Catalysis of Radical Cyclizations from Alkyl Iodides under H2: Evidence for Electron Transfer from [CpV(CO)3H]-’ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 4512-4516.
Lorenc, C.; Sauri, J.; Moser, A.; Buevich, A.V.; Williams, A.J.; Williamson, R.T.; Martin, G.E.; Peczuh, M.W. ‘Turning Spiroketals Inside Out: A Rearrangement Triggered by an Enol Ether Epoxidation’ Chemistry Open. 2015, 4, 541-660.
Lorenc, C.; Reeves, J. T.; Busacca, C.; Senanayake, C. H. ‘Acid Mediated Deprotection of N-isopropyl Tertiary Amides’ Tet. Lett. 2015, 56, 1280-1282.
Desmond, R.; Magpusao, A.; Lorenc, C.; Alverson, J.; Priestley, N.; Peczuh, M.W. ‘De novo macrolide-glycolipid macrolactone hybrids: Synthesis, structure, and antibiotic activity of carbohydrate-fused macrocycles’ Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 2215-2221.
Reeves, J. T.; Lorenc, C.; Camara, K.; Li., Z.; Lee, H.; Busacca, C.; Senanayake, C. H. ‘Carbamoyl Anion Addition to Nitrones’ J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79 (12), 5895-5902.
Saha, J.; Lorenc, C.; Bikash, S.; Peczuh, M.W. ‘Discovery of a Phosphine-Mediated Cycloisomerization of Alkynyl Hemiketals: Access to Spiroketals and Dihydropyrazoles via Tandem Reactions’ J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77 (8), 3846-3858.