Alison E Wendlandt

Alison Wendlandt is an American chemist who is an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research considers the development of catalysts for organic synthesis.

Early life and education Wendlandt is from Colorado. She earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Chicago. She acquired her master's degree at Yale University. She moved to Wisconsin for her doctoral studies, where she worked alongside Shannon Stahl on the development of catalysts that mediate amine oxidation.

Research and career In 2018, Wendlandt joined the department of chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She works on the development of catalysts for organic chemistry. In particular, she develops dual catalysts for selective synthesis. Wendlandt used an enzyme from Streptomyces fradiae to drive the conversion of rare sugar isomers. This simple one-site reaction allowed for the conversion of D-Glucose to D-allose (a potential candidate for low-calorie sweeteners) with a 40% yield.

Wendlandt showed that a combination of polyanionic tungsten and disulfide could be used to drive enantioselective reactions. The dual catalyst approach allowed her to make a breakthrough in alkene isomerization, making it possible to precisely control the interconversion of alkene regioisomers.

Awards and honors 2019 Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professorship 2020 Thieme Medical Publishers Chemistry Journal Award 2021 Beckman Young Investigators Award 2021 National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award

Selected publications

Personal life Wendlandt is queer, and was included as one of Chemical & Engineering News' Trailblazers in 2021. In an interview, Wendlandt described her experience of being LGBTQ+ in science: "I think being different, whatever that means — in my case, being LGBTQ — has been like a superpower."