Radical reactions have enjoyed widespread applications in both small molecule and macromolecule synthesis. However, it remains challenging to control the stereochemistry of radical transformations and to discover novel modes of radical catalysis which are not known in either organic chemistry or biochemistry. Combining synthetic chemistry, enzymology and protein engineering, our group advanced two new biocatalytic strategies for stereoselective free radical processes.

Interested in learning more about the UGA Department of Chemistry, or just chemistry in general? Stop by the Department of Chemistry Open House on Thursday, August 22, from 2:30-4:00 p.m. There will be chemistry demonstrations, food, department swag, and more. Meet the faculty and grad students, check out the various organizations, learn more about research opportunities, and find out what it's like to major (or minor) in Chemistry. Everyone is welcome!

Vinigrol, a natural product first isolated in 1987, has been studied extensively due to its unique structure and biological properties, including antihypertensive and platelet aggregation-inhibiting effects. Vinigrol has a unprecedented 6-6-8 tricyclic ring system with an axial four-carbon bridge, eight contiguous stereocenters, and a strained bicyclo[5.3.1]undecane ring similar to taxol.

The development of catalytic complexity-building transformations is essential to efficient synthetic design.¹  The capacity of a single catalyst to induce multiple bond-forming events can facilitate the rapid construction of molecules of interest.

Quantum technologies based on molecular electron spin coherence afford unique potential in miniaturization, spatial localization, and tunability through synthetic chemistry and biomolecular integration. However, many applications within molecular quantum information science hinge on slowing down spin relaxation, a process that effectively leaks quantum information into the environment. Additionally, applications such as quantum sensing with molecular quantum bits (qubits) have only recently undergone exploration.

Biomedical chemistry is a cross-disciplinary field that studies how organic molecules can be used to address medical problems. It combines chemistry and biological sciences to understand how chemical concepts can be used to fight disease. Biomedical chemists are medical scientists who apply chemical principles to research human diseases, their origins, and how to treat them. They also create and study new pharmaceutical drugs.

Fossil fuel and biomass combustion releases aerosols into Earth’s atmosphere which strongly absorb incoming solar radiation, contributing significantly to positive radiative forcing (global warming). Given the uncertainty on the extent of this warming effect by aerosols (Alexander et al., 2013), it is paramount that aerosol absorption be measured accurately for translation to reliable climate models.

In 1964, the late Philip Eaton successfully synthesized cubane, a molecule once thought impossible. And then in 1992, Eaton announced that cubane should be considered more than novelty. He suggested that cubane could be used to replace benzene in pharmaceuticals to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of the parent drug. Following this announcement, cubane was only seen sporadically in the literature.

The photochemical activity of nitroarenes was first reported by Ciamician and Silber in 1901 when the unusual rearrangement of 2-nitrobenzaldehyde to 2-nitrosobenzoic acid was disclosed.¹ The cyclization of photoexcited nitroarenes to ortho alkene and alkyne systems was described not long thereafter.^2,3 Subsequent work by Ward⁴ and others⁵ defined the reactivity of photoexcited nitroarenes as an

Heme enzymes mediate a plethora of paramount reaction pathways in a wide variety of organisms, including humans, wherein dioxygen activating heme enzymes are prevalent.^{[1, 2]} Interestingly, a number of pivotal geometric and electronic parameters in concert fine-tune such heme centers for their specialized reactivities, which strongly modulate the reactivity properties of their relevant reaction intermediates.