Garg and Houk groups report diradicaloid coupling in Nature
5 days ago
- Recent Research
- Research
UCLA organic chemistry laboratories led by Distinguished Professors Neil Garg and Ken Houk have reported a groundbreaking study in Nature. The groups demonstrate that two highly strained reactants, a cyclic allene […]

The Houk and Tang groups discover an organocatalytic Diels-Alderase in Nature
2 weeks ago
- Recent Research
- Research
Iminium-catalyzed cycloadditions are a hallmark of organocatalysis, a concept that David MacMillan famously coined as “LUMO-catalysis” when he and Benjamin List were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their […]

New copper-dependent enzyme catalyzes unprecedented halogenation reactions
3 weeks ago
- Recent Research
- Research
The Yi Tang group has discovered a new type of metal-containing enzyme from a natural fungus that can perform surprising halogenation reactions on organic molecules. The study, published in Nature, represents […]

Thorium film could replace crystals in atomic clocks of the near future
4 weeks ago
- Recent Research
- Research
Professor Anastassia Alexandrova is part of a team of UCLA physicists who have developed a new film that requires much less of the rare thorium-229 and is significantly less radioactive. […]

Plastic supercapacitors could solve energy storage problems
4 weeks ago
- Recent Research
- Research
Professor Richard Kaner, professional researcher Dr. Maher El-Kady, and Materials Science and Engineering alumnus Dr. Musibau Francis Jimoh lead a team of UCLA chemists who have developed a novel, textured, […]

Origin of Life Favors One ‘Hand’ of Chemical Building Blocks?
3 months ago
- Faculty
- Recent Research
- Research
New research by Professor Irene Chen’s group and NASA collaborators, focused on structures that could have been around during the RNA world, suggests RNA did not initially have a predisposed […]

Organic chemists take on “Bredt’s Rule” 100 years later
4 months ago
- Faculty
- Graduate
- Recent Research
- Research
- Student
A new study by UCLA organic chemists shows how to create several types of molecules that violate Bredt’s rule, known as anti-Bredt olefins (ABOs). Many modern textbooks and online resources […]

New insights into cysteine-reactive small molecules
4 months ago
- Faculty
- Graduate
- Recent Research
- Research
- Student
A team of UCLA researchers led by Professor Keriann Backus and graduate students Ashley R. Julio and Flowreen Shikwana has shed new light on the functional consequences of cysteine-reactive compounds […]
