Gregory Dudley, Ph.D.

Dr. Dudley received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 and continued as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York from 2000-2002. He was on the faculty at Florida State University from 2002-2016, at which point he moved to West Virginia University to serve as Department Chair from 2016-2024. He is currently on assignment as a Program Director in the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation.  (Curriculum Vitae, 2024)

Teaching Fields

Organic Chemistry

Research Interests

Organic synthesis, reaction methodology and technology, and medicinal chemistry

The fundamental goal of the Dudley lab is to devise, develop, and apply new ideas in organic chemistry to the efficient synthesis of complex molecules, particularly natural products with medicinal applications. Natural products research impacts the development of many important drugs including aspirin, penicillin, and Taxol. The ability to recreate and refine the molecular architecture of complex natural products through organic synthesis is key to understanding and ultimately leveraging these systems to improve human health. Our research aims to enable advances in modern medicine through innovations in the science and practice of organic synthesis.

Representative Recent Publications

• Tavakoli, A.; Dudley, G. B. Synthesis of coprinol and several alcyopterosin sesquiterpenes by regioselective [2 + 2 + 2] alkyne cyclotrimerization . J. Org. Chem. 2022 , 87 , 14909–14914.
• Fulo, H. F.; Rueb, N. J.; Gaston, R., Jr.; Batsomboon, P.; Ahmed, K. T.; Barrios, A. M.; Dudley, G. B. Synthesis of illudalic acid and analogous phosphatase inhibitors . Org. Biomol. Chem. 2021 , 19 , 10596–10600.
• Fulo, H. F.; Shoeib, A.; Cabanlong, C. V.; Williams, A. H.; Zhan, C.-G.; Prather, P. L.; Dudley, G. B. Synthesis, molecular pharmacology, and structure-activity relationships of 3-(indanoyl)indoles as selective cannabinoid type 2 receptor antagonists . J. Med. Chem. 2021 , 64 , 6381–6396. 
• Highlighted in Synfacts 2021, 17, 0816
• Gaston, R., Jr.; Geldenhuys, W. J.; Dudley, G. B. Synthesis of illudinine from dimedone and identification of activity as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor . J. Org. Chem . 2020 , 85 , 13429–13437.
• Selected as a JOC Featured Article
• Tavakoli, A.; Stiegman, A. E.; Dudley, G. B. Mixed solvent system for selective microwave heating: accelerated thermal reaction kinetics of a microwave-transparent substrate . Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2022 , 24 , 2794–2799.
• Selected as a PCCP HOT Article
• Frasso, M. A.; Stiegman, A. E.; Dudley, G. B. Microwave-specific acceleration of a retro-Diels-Alder reaction . Chem. Commun . 2020 , 56 , 11247–11250.
• Featured in a Chemistry World news article