Publications - Liu Lab

Discoveries, shared.

Peer-reviewed research from the Liu Lab and collaborating teams. Select a title to read the paper.

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An Allosteric Cyclin E–CDK2 Site Mapped by Paralog Hopping with Covalent Probes

Zhang, Y.; Liu, Z.; Hirschi, M.; Brodsky, O.; Johnson, E.; Won, S. J.; Nagata, A.; Bezwada, D.; Petroski, M. D.; Majmudar, J. D.; Niessen, S.; VanArsdale, T.; Gilbert, A. M.; Hayward, M. M.; Stewart, A. E.; Nager, A. R.; Melillo, B.; Cravatt, B. F.

Nature Chemical Biology, 21(3), 420–431 · 2025
Scalable total synthesis of saxitoxin and related natural products

Guo, Y.; Li, Y.; Chen, S.; Wu, Y.; Poll, O.; Ren, Z.; Liu, Z.; Vlkolinsky, R.; Bajo, M.; Prier, C. K.; Xiao, K.-J.; Cravatt, B. F.; Roberto, M.; Baran, P. S.

Nature, 646(8084), 351–357 · 2025
Coordinated Inheritance of Extrachromosomal DNAs in Cancer Cells

Hung, K. L.; Jones, M. G.; Wong, I. T.-L.; Curtis, E. J.; Lange, J. T.; He, B. J.; Luebeck, J.; Schmargon, R.; Scanu, E.; Brückner, L.; Yan, X.; Li, R.; Gnanasekar, A.; Chamorro González, R.; Belk, J. A.; Liu, Z.; Melillo, B.; Bafna, V.; Dörr, J. R.; Werner, B.; Huang, W.; Cravatt, B. F.; Henssen, A. G.; Mischel, P. S.; Chang, H. Y.

Nature, 635(8037), 201–209 · 2024
Proteomic Ligandability Maps of Spirocycle Acrylamide Stereoprobes Identify Covalent ERCC3 Degraders

Liu, Z.; Remsberg, J. R.; Li, H.; Njomen, E.; DeMeester, K. E.; Tao, Y.; Xia, G.; Hayward, R. E.; Yoo, M.; Nguyen, T.; Simon, G. M.; Schreiber, S. L.; Melillo, B.; Cravatt, B. F.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 146(15), 10393–10406 · 2024
A Sterically Tuned Directing Auxiliary Promotes Catalytic 1,2-Carbofluorination of Alkenyl Carbonyl Compounds

Liu, Z.; Oxtoby, L. J.; Sun, J.; Li, Z.-Q.; Kim, N.; Davies, G. H. M.; Engle, K. M.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 62(4), e202214153 · 2023
A Transient Directing Group Strategy Enables Enantioselective Multicomponent Organofluorine Synthesis

Liu, Z.; Oxtoby, L. J.; Liu, M.; Li, Z.-Q.; Tran, V. T.; Gao, Y.; Engle, K. M.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(24), 8962–8969 · 2021
Controlling Cyclization Pathways in Palladium(II)-Catalyzed Intramolecular Alkene Hydrofunctionalization via Substrate Directivity

Wang, X.; Li, Z.-Q.; Mai, B. K.; Gurak, J. A., Jr; Xu, J. E.; Tran, V. T.; Ni, H.-Q.; Liu, Z.; Liu, Z.; Yang, K. S.; Xiang, R.; Liu, P.; Engle, K. M.

Chemical Science, 11(41), 11307–11314 · 2020
Copper-Catalyzed Late-Stage Benzylic C(sp3)–H Trifluoromethylation

Xiao, H.; Liu, Z.; Shen, H.; Zhang, B.; Zhu, L.; Li, C.

Chem, 5(4), 940–949 · 2019
Copper-Catalyzed Remote C(sp3)–H Trifluoromethylation of Carboxamides and Sulfonamides

Liu, Z.; Xiao, H.; Zhang, B.; Shen, H.; Zhu, L.; Li, C.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 58(8), 2510–2513 · 2019
Copper-Catalyzed Ring-Opening Radical Trifluoromethylation of Cycloalkanone Oximes

Liu, Z.; Shen, H.; Xiao, H.; Wang, Z.; Zhu, L.; Li, C.

Organic Letters, 21(13), 5201–5205 · 2019
Radical Carbofluorination of Unactivated Alkenes with Fluoride Ions

Liu, Z.; Chen, H.; Lv, Y.; Tan, X.; Shen, H.; Yu, H.-Z.; Li, C.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140(19), 6169–6175 · 2018
Catalytic Radical Trifluoromethylalkynylation of Unactivated Alkenes

Zhou, S.; Song, T.; Chen, H.; Liu, Z.; Shen, H.; Li, C.

Organic Letters, 19(3), 698–701 · 2017
Selective Radical Fluorination of Tertiary Alkyl Halides at Room Temperature

Chen, H.; Liu, Z.; Lv, Y.; Tan, X.; Shen, H.; Yu, H.-Z.; Li, C.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 56(48), 15411–15415 · 2017
Silver-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Trifluoromethylation of Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids

Tan, X.; Liu, Z.; Shen, H.; Zhang, P.; Zhang, Z.; Li, C.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(36), 12430–12433 · 2017
Trifluoromethylation of Alkyl Radicals in Aqueous Solution

Shen, H.; Liu, Z.; Zhang, P.; Tan, X.; Zhang, Z.; Li, C.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139(29), 9843–9846 · 2017