Nature uses triggered structural changes to catalyze kinetically and thermodynamically challenging reactions.
O-lab reserach aims to mimic this mechanistic paradigm and then apply it to solve real world problems.
Biological systems have evolved to use triggered structural changes to control reactivity.
In metalloenzymes, these macroscopic structural changes often affect angstrom-level adjustments to the metallocofactor microenvironment.
In turn, these adjustments dictate the flow of protons and electrons, thus connecting mactrosctructural control with chages at the subatomic level.
We are inspired by this mechanistic paradigm as an elegant appraoch to controlling thermodyanically and kinetically challenging processes. Our lab creates, studies, and applies simplified synthetic and artificial systems with which to explore and exploit the link between molecular and electronic structural control.