Organic Synthesis

Organic synthesis focuses on the study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions and preparation of carbon-containing compounds and materials.

Since nature primarily uses carbon and hydrogen as the elements of choice for creating the machinery necessary for life, organic chemistry is often considered the “chemistry of life.” 

Research Topics

  • Synthesis of unnatural peptide libraries
  • Light enabled drug delivery of cancer therapeutics
  • Asymmetric synthesis of complex natural product and drug molecules
  • Development of stereoselective synthetic methodologies for the synthesis of organic compounds
  • Development of new tools to study protein function
  • Structure-activity relationships in drug development
  • Expansion of the genetic code through organic synthesis
  • Engineering biocatalysts for chemical synthesis

Faculty

rodney the ram

Katherine Belecki, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Natural Product Biosynthesis

Biocatalyst Development and Engineering

Biomimetic Organic Synthesis

Ashton Cropp

Ashton Cropp, Ph.D.

Professor

Organic chemistry

Synthetic genetic code expansion

Ubiquitin protein chemistry

Brian Fuglestad

Brian Fuglestad, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Protein function

Protein inhibition

Membrane model development

Matthew Hartman

Matthew C.T. Hartman, Ph.D.

Professor

Organic chemistry

unnatural peptide libraries

light-enabled drug delivery

Vladimir Sidorov

Vladimir Sidorov, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Organic synthesis

Josh Sieber

Josh D. Sieber, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Organic synthesis

asymmetric catalysis

medicinal and process chemistry