About The Author
My name is James Ashenhurst. I’m an organic chemist originally from Glen Williams, Ontario, Canada.
After undergraduate studies at Queen’s University, I obtained my Ph.D. in organic chemistry from McGill University (2006) and then did a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at MIT (2006-2008). In December 2008 I moved to Jerusalem, Israel, where I worked as a medicinal chemist at HUJI.
I’m really fascinated by what makes organic chemistry a “hard class” for so many people. (My organic chemistry story is here. )
In February 2010 I started tutoring organic chemistry online through Skype, and started MasterOrganicChemistry.com . Since then I’ve spent several thousand hours working 1-on-1 with undergraduates taking introductory organic chemistry, mostly in the U.S.A. and Canada, but also in the U.K., Australia, and Germany.
Since 2010, Master Organic Chemistry has published over 500 articles dealing with all facets of introductory-level undergraduate organic chemistry, from core course material to study tips, case studies of successful students, analysis of the core curriculum and more.
According to SimilarWeb.com (December 2018) Master Organic Chemistry is the #10 most visited chemistry website in the world.
Contact : james@masterorganicchemistry.com
Twitter @jamesashchem
Press (Master Organic Chemistry)
- Outside The Lab: Side Jobs For Scientists by Elie Dolgin. Nature 549, 297–299 (14 Sep 2017)
- Chemical Wooing, Configurational Isocats by Rachel Pepling. Chemical and Engineering News, vol. 88, issue 51 (December 20, 2010.)
Press (Research)
- Dideoxyverticillin. In the column,”Totally Synthetic” by Paul Docherty. Chemistry World, April 28, 2009.
- Constructing Dideoxyverticillin by Bethany Halford. Chemical and Engineering News, vol. 87 issue 15, April 13, 2009.
Selected Publications
- Ashenhurst, J. A. Intermolecular oxidative cross-coupling of arenes. Chemical Society Reviews 2010 39 (2), 540-548. doi: 10.1039/B907809F
- Ashenhurst, J. A. ; Isakovic, L. ; Gleason, J. L. Application of a [6+ 4] cycloaddition strategy toward the total synthesis of CP-225,917 . Tetrahedron 2010 66 (1), 368-378. doi: 10.1016/j.tet.2009.10.071
- Kim, J.; Ashenhurst, J. A.; Movassaghi, M. ; Total Synthesis of (+)-11,11′-Dideoxyverticillin A. Science 2009 324 (5924), 238-241 doi: 10.1126/science.1170777
- Movassaghi, M. ; Schmidt, M.A.; Ashenhurst, J. A. Concise Total Synthesis of (+)‐WIN 64821 and (−)‐Ditryptophenaline. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2008, 47 (8), 1485-1487 . doi: 10.1002/anie.200704960
- Movassaghi, M. ; Schmidt, M. A.; Ashenhurst, J. A. Stereoselective oxidative rearrangement of 2-aryl tryptamine derivatives. Organic Letters 2008 10 (18), 4009-4012. doi: 10.1021/ol8015176
- Hudon, J. ; Cernak, T. A. ; Ashenhurst, J. A. ; Gleason, J. L. Stable 5‐Substituted Cyclopentadienes for the Diels–Alder Cycloaddition and their Application to the Synthesis of Palau’amine. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2008 47 (46), 8885-8888. doi: 10.1002/anie.200803344