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Research Overview

The Romero group at UC San Diego develops new catalytic reactivity that expands what organic synthesis can achieve under mild, practical conditions. Our work spans visible-light photochemistry, ground-state catalysis, and hybrid strategies that combine both, guided by rigorous mechanistic insight. The result is a toolbox of selective, functional group tolerant transformations that open access to valuable chemical space for medicines and materials.

Recent Publications

B2pin2 is air stable they said...

Empirical observations find that commercial bottles of B2pin2 sporadically degrade to a brown mess under air. We show that a trace volatile component plus O2 and OH--containing contaminants are required for this autocatalytic process. Great job Wes and Satheesh!

Bona Fide Copy-Paste Chemistry

Visible light drives “cut-and-paste” functional group transposition in chalcones (against thermodynamics!) to reach transposed 1,2-diaryl enones. Uphill chemistry, made easy. Congrats Carlos and Jon!

Aminosilanes Today, Tomorrow, and Forever

A simple copper catalyst enables the multicomponent assembly of a range of amines, aldehydes, and silanes into a single molecule under mild conditions. Congrats Leo!

All the Arylations, None of the Fluorinations

The use of Selectfluor unlocks C-H arylation between aryl amides and aryl boronic acids, giving rise to a range of biaryl products via an electrophilic Pd pathway. Congrats Delphine and Nick!

Looking to join our team?

We are on the lookout for future group members that will help us take our research endeavors to new heights. We want team members who are positive, intrinsically motivated, and interested in discovering cool new reactions and mechanisms. Having previous experience in photochemistry or catalysis is not required, but a willingness to gain new expertise is. If this sounds good to you, check out our research interests and our group members pages! We look forward to meeting and working with you.

Romero Research Group (R2G)

@ UC San Diego