Prof. Eric. Jacobsen

Harvard University

Abstract

My research program has been dedicated to the discovery of catalytic systems that control stereochemical outcomes in organic reactions of interest. In the course of our efforts, we have had occasion to perform deep mechanistic analyses of the catalysts we have discovered. In this lecture, I will relate three different stories where seemingly minor misbehaviors in our experimental data were examined closely and found to reveal unexpected insights into the catalytic mechanisms and ultimately led us to improved or completely new catalytic systems.