Join us for a conversation with Yining Ji Chen, recipient of the 2025 ACS Rising Star Award, on how mechanistic insight powers innovation in pharmaceutical process research. We dive into her career journey and standout projects—from Pd-catalyzed C–N coupling for HCV therapy to dynamic phosphorylation in nucleotide synthesis—plus her creation of LED‑NMR for real-time photochemical reaction monitoring. Hear how deep mechanistic understanding drives robustness and safety, why she moved to the Data‑Rich Measurements group, and which emerging analytical technologies excite her most. A celebration of scientific rigor shaping efficient, reliable pharma processes!

Read some of the papers we discussed today:

A multifunctional catalyst that stereoselectively assembles prodrugs - Science

A rational pre-catalyst design for bis-phosphine mono-oxide palladium catalyzed reactions - Chem Sci

LED-Illuminated NMR Spectroscopy: A Practical Tool forMechanistic Studies of Photochemical Reactions - ChemPhotoChem

From at-line to online NMR: coupling probe-based autosampler with benchtop NMR - Reaction Chemistry and Engineering

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