Research Interests
As chemists, we often gauge our synthetic prowess by comparing ourselves to nature: we synthesize natural products, develop artificial enzymes, and even perform directed evolution. In many ways, chemistry has been able to not only match nature, but to exceed her capabilities. Reactions such as olefin metathesis and hydroformylation have never been observed in natural processes. That said, chemists are still in awe of the intricacy, efficiency and selectivity of biological processes (Figure 1). I propose that modern chemists need to continue to invent reactions not possible by natural means, but also need to refine our current set of reactions to become as stereo- and chemospecific as those performed by living organisms.
Figure 1. Example of a naturally occuring stereo- and chemospecific reaction that cannot be performed by modern chemistry
The overarching goal of my research program is to develop new approaches to organic synthesis. This can be accomplished in two ways: 1) by inventing new synthetic transformations, and 2) by developing new synthetic routes to interesting target molecules. Colleagues who choose to join my group will benefit from the broad, interdisciplinary nature of the projects. The research I intend to pursue will involve organic and organometallic synthesis applied in both traditional and combinatorial motifs. Specifically, I plan to harness and expand the emerging technology of C-H activation. In so doing, I intend to discover expedient and cost-effective routes to valuable commodity chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Examples of the kind of organic targets and organometallic catalysts that I intend to synthesize are shown below (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Examples of the kinds of organic and organometallic targets that we intend to synthesize and study