Robert R Knowles
Princeton University, NJ·Chemistry
Most chemical reactions slide toward the most stable product, the way a ball rolls downhill. That limits which molecules chemists can make.
- Fields
Chemistry
- Topics
organic synthesis
synthetic methodology
photocatalysis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2029
What they work on
- Develop light-driven deracemization of ketones and asymmetric contra-thermodynamic olefin isomerization, using excited-state redox catalysis to give product mixtures not reachable by ordinary heat-driven reactions.
- Use proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET, moving a proton and electron together) to cleave carbon–carbon bonds in amino alcohols and cyclic 1,2-diols, forming ring-expanded amines, lactams, cyclic ethers and lactones.
- Create a general PCET method for anti-Markovnikov hydroamination, adding sulfonamide nitrogen groups across unactivated carbon–carbon double bonds with a wider range of amine partners.
- Develop PCET reactions of hydrazones, including room-temperature Wolff–Kishner-type deoxygenations and ring contraction of pyrazolines into cyclopropanes, and expand phenol substitution through phenoxyl radicals.
More about the research
This research uses light to push reactions "uphill", producing mixtures of products that ordinary heat-driven reactions cannot give. The key idea is excited-state redox chemistry: a catalyst absorbs light and then moves electrons to or from the starting molecule, so the starting molecule itself never needs to absorb light.
Why it matters
Many drugs and biological probe molecules are built from ring-shaped amines, small rings and single-handed structures. New light-driven and PCET reactions could give chemists in drug discovery and pharmaceutical manufacturing simpler ways to make these structures, including products that standard reactions cannot reach.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ramesh Giri
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Chemistry
Develop transition-metal-catalyzed difunctionalization of alkenes bearing simple functional groups, using a dual ligand system of electron-deficient alkenes and organic nitriles to stabilize intermediates and promote C(sp3)–C(sp3) bond formation.
Tomislav Rovis
Columbia University, NY·Chemistry
Develop reactions that build nitrogen-containing rings (heterocycles) directly from simple feedstocks such as alkenes and alkanes, forming carbon–carbon and carbon–nitrogen bonds in one step without later manipulation.
Michel Gagne
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Chemistry
Develop site-selective and functional group-directed C-H functionalization reactions, which convert specific carbon-hydrogen bonds into new groups, using light-activated organic photoredox catalysts.
The school
Princeton University: 26 labs on PI Pages, $559M a year on research, 403 research doctorates a year.
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