Prof. Eric. Jacobsen

Harvard University

Abstract

In the minds of chemists at least, there is no doubt that many of the most pressing challenges facing humanity – such as health, the environment, and energy – will have to be addressed using chemistry. Catalysis lies at the heart of nearly every challenge in modern chemistry, cutting across all of its subdisciplines and connecting to fields as diverse as biology, materials science, and engineering. However, chemists’ ability to design new catalysts for intended purposes remains quite primitive, typically relying on small incremental advances or serendipitous discoveries. In this lecture, I will present an organic chemist’s perspective on the field of catalysis, touching on some of the specific challenges my group has sought to address.