Selena Milicevic was born in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro (S&M), in 1979. She graduated with a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the University of Belgrade (S&M) in 2003 and was the best student of that year. As an undergraduate, Selena participated in four different research projects on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2001 she joined Prof. James D. White's research group at Oregon State University as a summer research student and studied the conversion of carbamates into amidosulfones and amides. The following summer she took part in an exchange program and joined the research group of Prof. Scott E. Denmark at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she worked as a checker for an Organic Syntheses procedure. In the fall of 2002, she joined the research group of Prof. Klaus Peseke at the University of Rostock (Germany) and studied the transformations of pentose glycals with push-pull butadiene functionalities. The next summer she completed her diploma thesis working in the research group of Prof. Radomir N. Saicic at the University of Belgrade (S&M) where she studied the stereoselective synthesis of cytoxazone and epi-cytoxazone. Selena's diploma work was awarded the distinction of being the best undergraduate research project of 2003. Selena commenced her Ph. D. studies in Paul Blakemore's research group at the University of Leeds (U.K.) in October 2003. At the beginning of 2005, Selena moved to Oregon State University along with the rest of the Blakemore Group and she concluded her graduate studies in June 2008. Selena's PhD research concerned the study of 7,7´-disubstituted derivatives of 8,8´-biquinolyl and has resulted in six publications to date.

"Silylcyanation of Aldehydes, Ketones, and Imines Catalyzed by a 6,6´-Bissulfonamide Derivative of 7,7´-Dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyl (azaBINOL)," Milicevic Sephton, S.; Wang, C.; Zakharov, L. N.; Blakemore, P. R. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2012, Early View (on web 5/8/12) DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.201200333. [LINK][abstract][SI]

Blakemore,* P. R.; Milicevic, S. D.; Perera, H.; Shvarev, A.; Zakharov, L. N. "Determination of pKa Values for Diether Derivatives of 7,7´-Dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyl: Dependence of Basicity on Interannular Dihedral Angle," Synthesis 2008, 2271-2277. [LINK][abstract]

Blakemore,* P. R.; Milicevic, S. D. "7,7´-Dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyl," in Electronic Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis; Wiley: Chichester, 2008.

Blakemore,* P. R.; Milicevic, S. D.; Zakharov, Lev. N. "Enzymatic Resolution of 7,7´-Dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyl Dipentanoate and Its Conversion to 2,2´-Di-tert-butyl-7,7´-dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyl," J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 9368-9371. [LINK]

Blakemore,* P. R.; Kilner, C.; Milicevic, S. D. "Resolution, Enantiomerization Kinetics, and Chiroptical Properties of 7,7´-Dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyl," J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 8212-8218. [LINK]

Blakemore,* P. R.; Kilner, C.; Milicevic, S. D. "Harnessing Anionic Rearrangments on the Benzenoid Ring of Quinoline for the Synthesis of 6,6´-Disubstituted 7,7´-Dihydroxy-8,8´-biquinolyls," J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 373-376. [LINK]

Bari, A.; Milicevic, S.; Feist, H.; Michalik, D.; Michalik, M.; Peseke,* K."Ring Transformations of Pentose Glycals with Push-pull Butadiene Functionality," Synthesis 2005, (16), 2758-2764. [LINK]

Milicevic, S.; Matovic, R.; Saicic,* R. N. "Stereoselective Synthesis of (–)-Cytoxazone and (+)-Epi-cytoxazone" Tetrahedron Lett. 2004, 45, 955-957. [LINK]

White,* J. D.; Blakemore, P. R.; Milicevic, S.; Choudhry, S. C.; Cupano, J.; Serico, L. "Conversion of Carbamates to Amidosulfones and Amides. Synthesis of the [14-C]-Labeled Antiobesity Agent Ro23-7637," Org. Lett. 2002, 4, 1803-1806. [LINK]