My student Khalid Baig Mirza defended his Ph.D. thesis at Drexel University on December 6, 2010. It was nice to see all the pieces come together - even though there are still a few intriguing puzzles left to be fully resolved. Like most research projects, every answer generates several interesting additional questions and Khalid did a good job of showing what these key issues are for his work.

In his presentation, Khalid first discusses Open Notebook Science and his contribution to the sodium hydride oxidation controversy. Then he describes the UsefulChem project, involving the use of the Ugi reaction as an approach to synthesizing new anti-malarial agents, including a few unexpected side reactions and challenges. Finally he presents an overview of the ONS Solubility Challenge and its application to organic synthesis.