Choi Hoe-young, a Ph.D. student in the Organic Synthesis track of the Department of Chemistry at our university’s Graduate School (advisor: Professor Ko Haye Min), was recently selected for the National Research Foundation of Korea’s “2026 Ph.D. Student Research Incentive Grant Program under the Academic Research Support Program for Science and Engineering,” and will receive 25 million won in annual research funding.
  
The selected research project, titled “Synthesis of Chiral Hexagonal Spirooxindoles via Palladium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylation/Aza-Prince Cyclization Reactions,” aims to develop a new catalytic reaction capable of synthesizing the three-dimensional spirooxindole skeleton—which is important in medicinal chemistry—with high stereoselectivity. The spiro structure is a unique three-dimensional structure in which two rings share a single atom; it is attracting attention as an important skeletal framework in the development of new drug candidates and bioactive compounds because it can enhance a molecule’s stereochemical diversity and structural robustness. In particular, by linking a palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylation reaction with a subsequent ring-closing reaction, the project aims to establish an efficient synthetic method for chiral hexagonal spirooxindoles that overcomes the limitations of existing racemic synthesis.
 
Student Choi Hoe-young expressed his aspirations, stating, “With the selection of this project, I aim to expand existing research on spirooxindole synthesis to include asymmetric catalytic reactions and establish new synthetic methodologies that can be applied to medicinal chemistry and new drug development in the future.”