Organic Synthesis & Catalysis
We are interested in solving long-standing challenges in organic synthesis through catalyst and reagent design. For example, nucleophilic substitution is one of the most fundamentally important reaction classes in organic chemistry, but there are many limitations associated with the classical mechanisms of nucleophilic substitution (e.g. SNAr reactions are mostly limited to aryl fluorides or chlorides bearing strong electron-withdrawing groups in either the ortho or para positions).
In this regard, we have shown how thermally driven radical chemistry can be used to enable nucleophiles to substitute diverse electrophiles via the electron-catalysed radical-nucleophilic substitution (SRN1) chain mechanism. We've also developed reagents which serve as surrogates of hydroxide (–OH) and azanide (–NH2) anions. These surrogate reagents can be tuned to promote substitution by different polar and open-shell mechanisms.
See: Nat. Synth. 2026, Chem. Sci. 2021, Chem. Eur. J. 2024
Our research is also driven by mechanistic curiosity. For example, we're interested in understanding the mechanisms of denitrative substitution and using this understanding to develop methods for the direct denitrative hydroxylation and sulfonylation of nitroarenes.
