Professor Ken Houk is co-leader of a team of researchers who have found a way to break down fluorine compounds that contribute to pollution and health problems The team includes Professor Ken Houk and former group members YiLu Li (Tianjin University) and Professor Xiao-Song Xue (Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry), along with UCLA postdoctoral alumnus Professor Will Dichtel and […]

Professor Amy Keating (PhD ’98 Houk/García-Garibay groups) has been named head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Biology. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in physics in 1992, Professor Amy Keating developed an interest in organic chemistry and reaction mechanisms and joined UCLA’s organic chemistry graduate program working with Professors Ken Houk and Miguel García-Garibay.  […]

Their Nobel Fund project is to combine synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry to develop cannabinoids, both the common cannabinoids as well as rare cannabinoids for medicinal use. They have been able to develop a microbial host that can produce these compounds in high titters, which allows further development of these compounds into the full biologically […]

In a new video, Professor Richard Kaner explains his Nobel Fund team’s goal is to create technology for grid-level batteries that store energy from sustainable but intermittent sources such as the sun and wind. Kaner’s collaborator on the project is Professor Yuzhang Li from UCLA Engineering. Kaner is one of six Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty members selected […]

Professor Abigail Doyle is co-PI of the NSF Center for Computer Aided Synthesis (C-CAS), which will use machine learning to accelerate the synthesis of molecules. The Doyle lab is interested in building tools at the interface of data science and chemistry to enable the development of new and improved chemical reactions and catalysts more quickly […]

In a new video, Professor Yves Rubin and UCLA collaborators explain their Nobel Fund project to develop a zero-carbon foot print process for generating hydrogen for energy Rubin and collaborators from UCLA Engineering, Professors Tim Fisher and Michell Spearrin, are developing a zero–carbon footprint process for generating hydrogen for energy. The team’s strategy is to use […]

Professor Ken Houk is part of a team to develop new techniques that enable unprecedented versatility in design of drug molecules. The landmark achievement, reported August 9, 2022, in Nature, reflects a powerful new approach that generally offers much easier and more flexible molecular design, enabling chemists to synthesize innumerable chemical products – including potential blockbuster […]

Professor Xiangfeng Duan and members of his group are part of a team led by UCLA researchers to devise a method for predicting performance of catalysts in fuel cells. Platinum is the best catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells, but its rarity makes it expensive. This new method quickly identifies which alloys — combinations of platinum […]