Aaron Beeler

About

Aaron Beeler is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Boston University specializing in medicinal chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in 2002 from the University of Mississippi in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry under Professor John Rimoldi. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research with the Porco group and at the Center for Chemical Methodology and Library Development at Boston University, which is now known as the Center for Molecular Discovery. In January 2005, he was promoted to Assistant Director of the CMLD-BU. In 2012, Aaron Beeler joined the Department of Chemistry at Boston University as a tenure-track professor, and in 2019, he received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor of Chemistry. Professor Beeler teaches courses including sophomore Organic Chemistry (CH204), Organic Reaction Mechanisms (CH642), and Medicinal Chemistry (CH644). His research group focuses on the synthesis of peptides and small molecules for the inhibition of protein-protein interactions, synthesis of biodegradable adhesive materials, applications of flow chemistry, methodology development for high-throughput [2+2] photo-cycloadditions, synthesis of resveratrol-derived truxinic acid analogs, and the design and synthesis of fluorescent probes and PROTACs for targeted protein degradation. His work integrates synthetic and flow chemistry techniques to develop novel chemical tools and medicinal agents.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Stereochemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Crystallography
• Medicinal chemistry
• Cell biology
• Immunology
• Inorganic chemistry
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Nuclear physics

Selected publications

• Unified Synthesis of Azepines by Visible-Light-Mediated Dearomative Ring Expansion of Aromatic <i>N</i>-Ylides

  Organic Letters · 2021 · 45 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  -tetramethylquanidine (TMG) under visible light irradiation provides mono- and polycyclic azepines in yields up to 98%. This ring-expansion presents a new mode of access to functionalized azepines from N-heteroarenes using two straightforward steps and simple starting materials.

  DOI

• Recapitulating the Binding Affinity of Nrf2 for KEAP1 in a Cyclic Heptapeptide, Guided by NMR, X-ray Crystallography, and Machine Learning

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2021 · 39 citations

  = 4.3 μM) solely by optimizing the conformation of the cyclic compound, without changing any KEAP1 interacting residue. X-ray crystal structures were determined for each linear and cyclic peptide variant bound to KEAP1. Despite large variations in affinity, no obvious differences in the conformation of the peptide binding residues or in the interactions they made with KEAP1 were observed. However, analysis of the X-ray structures by machine learning showed that locations of strain in the bound l…

  PublisherDOI

• Chemoselective Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols Utilizing a Vanadium(V) Catalyst

  ACS Catalysis · 2024-03-14 · 26 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Work remains to develop an aerobic catalyst that will selectively oxidize secondary alcohols in the presence of primary alcohols. In principle, this is possible when there is an oxidation potential preference for doing so. One potential strategy is the use of a low oxidation potential catalyst. Recently, we reported a dimeric vanadium(V)–(μ-O)2 perfluoropinacolate (pinF) complex with the ability to oxidize alcohols via dehydrogenation that was sensitive to the alcohol redox potential. Herein, we…

  PublisherDOI

• Channeling macrophage polarization by rocaglates increases macrophage resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

  iScience · 2021 · 25 citations

  Macrophages contribute to host immunity and tissue homeostasis via alternative activation programs. M1-like macrophages control intracellular bacterial pathogens and tumor progression. In contrast, M2-like macrophages shape reparative microenvironments that can be conducive for pathogen survival or tumor growth. An imbalance of these macrophages phenotypes may perpetuate sites of chronic unresolved inflammation, such as infectious granulomas and solid tumors. We have found that plant-derived and…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Small-molecule targeting of GPCR-independent noncanonical G-protein signaling in cancer

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-04-25 · 16 citations

  articleOpen access

  Activation of heterotrimeric G-proteins (Gαβγ) by G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is a quintessential mechanism of cell signaling widely targeted by clinically approved drugs. However, it has become evident that heterotrimeric G-proteins can also be activated via GPCR-independent mechanisms that remain untapped as pharmacological targets. GIV/Girdin has emerged as a prototypical non-GPCR activator of G proteins that promotes cancer metastasis. Here, we introduce IGGi-11, a first-in-class sma…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Chemical Transformations Enabled by Flow Chemistry

  NSF · $614k · 2016–2021

Frequent coauthors

• John A. Porco

  88 shared

• James S. Panek

  Boston University

  35 shared

• Qibin Su

  AstraZeneca (United States)

  20 shared

• Bryan L. Roth

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  19 shared

• John K. Snyder

  Boston University

  16 shared

• Ping Lan

  Jinan University

  15 shared

• Dayle E. Acquilano

  14 shared

• W.W. Ong

  12 shared

Labs

• BEELER RESEARCH GROUP AT BOSTON UNIVERSITYPI

  Not provided

Similar researchers at Boston University

• John E. Straubh-69
• Tom Tulliush-57