Kyle Biegasiewicz

Assistant Professor, School of Molecular Sciences

Assistant Professor, Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing Associate Faculty

Asst Professor, Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics

kbiegasi@asu.edu

BDC-279 Biodesign C Tempe, AZ 85287
Mail code: 1604

Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio

Kyle Biegasiewicz is an Assistant Professor in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemistry from Niagara University in 2010, conducting undergraduate research with Professor Ronny Priefer where he established a general approach for the synthesis of the isoflavone class of natural products. He then pursued graduate studies in synthetic organic chemistry with Professor Robert K. Boeckman, Jr. at the University of Rochester. His graduate studies featured the development of an organocatalyzed asymmetric hydroxymethylation reaction that ultimately enabled a gram-scale synthesis of the apoptosis inducer (-)-rasfonin. Upon completion of his Doctor of Philosphy (PhD) in Chemistry, he moved to Princeton University as Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Professor Todd K. Hyster. His postdoctoral work broadly involved the expansion of the synthetic repertoire of enzymes through photoexcitation with visible light. Capitalizing on the photophysical properties of enzymes with redox active cofactors (namely nicotinamide and flavin), this work has begun to address longstanding challenges in selective hydrogen atom transfer and radical carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. His current work aims to capitalize on the unique catalytic capabilities of underexplored enzyme classes to achieve rapid construction of complex molecular architectures and/or the selective installation of structural entities that are highly desired in early and late stage organic synthesis.

Education

Ph.D., University of Rochester 2016

B.S., Niagara University 2010

Curriculum Vitae (0 bytes)

Research Interests

Our group is interested in the efficient and selective catalytic construction of molecular complexity in synthetic organic chemistry. While numerous methods have been developed to solve some of the grand challenges in chemical synthesis with small molecule catalysts, enzymes remain one of the most selective and tunable platforms for catalysis to date. However, a majority of synthetically useful enzymes have strictly been utilized for the reactions they are known to perform in nature. Our research group aims to expand the synthetic repertoire of enzymes by capitalizing on the unique catalytic capabilities of underexplored enzyme classes to achieve rapid construction of complex molecular architectures and/or the selective installation of structural entities that are highly desired in early and late stage organic synthesis. These applications will range from the synthesis of medicinally relevant core architectures to natural products.

Students and postdocs that join the Biegasiewicz group should expect to gain expertise in state of the art techniques in organic synthesis and molecular biology. Through a combination of new reaction discovery and directed evolution of enzymes, we envision designing synthetic sequences that operate under mild conditions, enable better step and atom economy, and lower waste production in comparison to current chemocatalytic alternatives.

Publications

Page, C.G.; Cooper, S.J.; Dehovitz, J.S.; Oblinsky, D.G.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Antropow, A.H.; Armbrust, K.W.; Ellis, J.M.; Hamann, L.G.; Horn, E.J.; Oberg, K.M.; Scholes, G.D.; Hyster, T.K. "Quaternary Charge-Transfer Complex Enables Photoenzymatic Intermolecular Hydroalkylation of Olefins," Journal of the American Chemical Society 2021 143, 1, 97-102.

Nakano, Y.; Black, M.J.; Meichan, A.J.; Sandoval, B.A.; Chung, M.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Zhu, T.; Hyster, T.K. “Photoenzymatic Hydrogenation of Heteroaromatic Olefins Using 'Ene'-Reductases with Photoredox Catalysts,” Angewandte Chemie-International Edition 2020 59, 26, 10484-10488.

Ackerman-Biegasiewicz, L.K.G.; Arias-Rotondo, D.M.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Elacqua, E.; Golder, M.R.; Kayser, L.V.; Lamb, J.R.; Le, C.M.; Romero, N.A.; Wilkerson-Hill, S.M.; Williams, D.A. "Organic Chemistry: A Retrosynthetic Approach to a Diverse Field," ACS Central Science 2020 6, 11, 1845-1850.

Black, M.J.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.*; Meichan, A.J.*; Oblinsky, D.G.*; Kudisch, B. Scholes, G.D.; Hyster, T.K. “Asymmetric redox-neutral radical cyclization catalysed by flavin-dependent ‘ene’-reductases,” Nat. Chem., 2019, In Press.

Biegasiewicz, K.F.*; Cooper, S.J.*; Gao, X.*; Oblinsky, D.G.; Kim, J.; Garfinkle, S.E.; Joyce, L.A.; Sandoval, B.A.; Scholes, G,D.; Hyster, T.K. “Photoexcitation of flavoenzymes enables a stereoselective radical cyclization,” Science 2019, 364, 1166-1169.

Sandoval, B.A.; Kurtoic, A.I.; Chung, M.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Hyster, T.K. “Photoenzymatic Catalysis Enables Ketone Reduction in Ene-Reductases,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2019, 58, 8714-8718.

Nakano, Y.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Hyster, T.K. “Biocatalytic Hydrogen Atom Transfer: An Invigorating Approach to Free-Radical Reactions,” Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 2019, 49, 16-24.

Boeckman, R.K., Jr.; Niziol, J.; Biegasiewicz, K.F. “Scalable Synthesis of (-)-Rasfonin Enabled by a Convergent Enantioselective a-Hydroxymethylation Strategy,” Org. Lett., 2018, 20 (16), 5062.

Biegasiewicz, K.F.*; Cooper, S.J.*; Emmanuel, M.A.; Miller, D.C.; Hyster, T.K. “Catalytic promiscuity enabled by photoredox catalysis in nicotinamide-dependent oxidoreductases,” Nat. Chem., 2018, 10, 770.

Concepcion, A.B.; Yamamoto, H.; Boeckman, R.K.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Tusch, D.J. “Formaldehyde,” e-EROS Encyc. Reagents Org. Synth., 2018, doi:10.1002/047084289X.rf018.pub2

Boeckman, R.K. Jr.; Tusch, D.J.; Biegasiewicz, K.F. “Organocatalyzed Direct Asymmetric α-Hydroxymethylation of Aldehydes,” Org. Synth., 2015, 92, 320.

Boeckman, R.K. Jr.; Tusch, D.J.; Biegasiewicz, K.F. “(S)-1,1-Diphenylprolinol Trimethylsilyl Ether,” Org. Synth., 2015, 92, 309.

Boeckman, R.K. Jr.; Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Tusch, D. J.; Miller, J.R. “Organocatalytic Enantioselective a-Hydroxymethylation of Aldehydes: Mechanistic Aspects and Optimization,” J. Org. Chem. 2015, 80 (8), 4030.

Biegasiewicz, K.F.; Griffiths, J. R.; Savage, G.P.; Tsanaktsidis, J.; Priefer, R. “Cubane: 50 Years Later,” Chem. Rev. 2015, 115 (14), 6719.

Biegasiewicz, K. F.; Gordon IV, J. S.; Rodriguez, D.A.; Priefer, R. "Development of a general approach to the synthesis of a library of isoflavonoid derivatives," Tetrahedron Lett., 2014, 55, 5210.

Carroll, V. M.; St. Denis, J. D.; Biegasiewicz, K. F. “Chemistry and Synthesis of Daidzein and its Methylated Derivatives: Formononetin, Isoformononetin, and Dimethyldaidzein,” Food Nutr. Compon. Focus 2013, 5 (isoflavones), 61.

Biegasiewicz, K. F.; Ingalsbe, M. L.; St. Denis, J. D.; Gleason, J. L.; Ho, J.; Coote, M.L.; Savage, G.P.; Priefer, R. “Evaluation of a chiral cubane-based Schiff base ligand in asymmetric catalysis reactions,” Beilstein J. Org. Chem., 2012, 8, 1814.

Biegasiewicz, K. F.; St. Denis, J. D.; Carroll, V. M.; Priefer, R. “An efficient synthesis of daidzein, dimethyldaidzein, and isoformononetin,” Tetrahedron Lett., 2010, 51, 4408.

Courses

2023 Spring

Course Number	Course Title
BIO 495	Undergraduate Research
CHM 501	Current Topics in Chemistry

2022 Fall

Course Number	Course Title
CHM 598	Special Topics
CHM 494	Special Topics

2022 Spring

Course Number	Course Title
CHM 535	Medicinal Chemistry
CHM 435	Medicinal Chemistry

2021 Spring

Course Number	Course Title
CHM 535	Medicinal Chemistry
CHM 435	Medicinal Chemistry

2020 Spring

Course Number	Course Title
CHM 435	Medicinal Chemistry
CHM 535	Medicinal Chemistry

Expertise Areas

Biochemistry

Organic Chemistry