The American Chemical Society (ACS) recently spotlighted the distinguished career of UGA Chemistry professor Gregory H. Robinson in its Axial publication. The article is part of a series "highlighting noteworthy African American chemists working today, engaging them in conversation about their life and work." Dr. Robinson speaks about his work, his early interest in chemistry and his mentors, the mindset of a successful chemist, and the environment for African American researchers in the field today.

Daphniphyllum alkaloids have a rich history dating back to the isolation of Daphniphyllum macropodum Miquel in 1909 by Yagi.¹ Pioneering work in the 1960s by Hirata and colleagues resulted in the isolation of daphniphylline and yuzurimine alkaloids, and subsequently, a total of over 330 Daphniphyllum alkaloids have been reported from the Daphniphyllum genus.^2-5 In view of their intriguing biological activities including anti-cancer and  anti-HIV

Over the past few decades, photoredox catalysis has emerged as a powerful tool for new bond formation. Acting as an oxidant or a reductant, an excited-state metal complex can generate reactive radical intermediates via a single-electron transfer process. The most commonly used transition-metal photocatalysts are ruthenium or iridium complexes. Our group has utilized chromium(III) complexes in a variety of different photoredox transformations.

Electrolysis in synthetic organic chemistry has a rich history dating back to the 19th century. Many advances have been done with the use of electrolysis in the past, e.g. Kolbe’s decarboxylative dimerization, ¹ Tafel’s electrolytic rearrangement, ² Simmons’s C-H fluorination.³ Since then the popularity of the electrolysis in synthetic organic chemistry has drastically decreased.

Glycosylation of certain proteins by oxygen-linked mannose (O-mannose) is known as O-mannosylation, and this process is essential for growth and development in animals.^1-4 Defective O-mannosylation of α-dystroglycan, the most well studied O-mannosylated mammalian protein, leads to congenital muscular dystrophies and neurological defects.^4-6 Mannose is linked to proteins through the serine or threonine side chain oxygen.

The extensive use of fossil fuels in industrial and transportation have arisen some issues for the environment such as air pollution, rises in sea level and frequency of extreme weather events.^[1] In order to lessen those negative effects of using fossil fuels, a sustainable source of renewable energy is needed to achieve the zero-carbon emission target.

Recently, transition metal trichalcogenides (MX₃), a class of quasi-1D van der Waals materials, have revealed remarkable properties such as high current breakdown density and exceptional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding.^1-3 Their unique properties are attributed to their pseudo-one-dimensional electronic structure with strong in-plane anisotropy and single crystalline structure.