Research Projects
We focus on the synthesis of functional molecules with novel electronic, photochemical, or biomedical properties. The core activity in our group is synthesis of new molecules and development of new synthetic methodology, primarily centered around porphyrinic molecules. We collaborate with physical chemists, spectroscopists, engineers, theoreticians, life scientists, and clinicians as required to approach difficult problems in a broad manner.
The chemistry of porphyrinic molecules has fascinated chemists for over a century, since the time when Willstatter first began his studies of the structural elucidation of chlorophylls. The porphyrinic molecules (chlorophyll, heme, vitamin B12, and F430 contain Mg, Fe, Co, and Ni, respectively) are Nature's most important cofactors and perform unique photochemical, redox, and catalytic functions. While total syntheses of most of the principal naturally occurring molecules have been established, the new opportunities in the field center around applications in the life sciences, medicine, and materials science arenas. For those applications, robust routes to porphyrinic building blocks are required. We are currently working on routes that are simple, scalable, and have broad scope. Research projects in our group can include synthetic methodology development and/or synthesis aimed at biological, medical, or materials applications. We are particularly interested in routes to stable bacteriochlorins that can be used in a variety of applications, including the emerging area of photomedicine
Collaborators
Professor David F. Bocian
Professor Michael Hamblin
Professor Dewey Holten
Professor Veena Misra
Zettacore, Inc. team