Mark Taylor

Our research program is aimed at discovering new modes of catalytic reactivity, studying their mechanisms, and using them to solve problems in organic synthesis. We focus on carbohydrates, nucleosides and heterocycles because they present fundamental challenges in site-selectivity, regioselectivity and stereoselectivity, and have translational importance. Organoboron catalysis, hydrogen atom transfer and photocatalysis are among the group's research themes. Students develop expertise in the core techniques of organic synthesis, along with quantitative skills in kinetics, quantum chemical calculations and data science.

Taking advantage of the reversible covalent interactions between organoboron compounds and diols, we have developed catalytic processes for site-selective OH-functionalizations of sugars. This mode of reactivity enabled us to achieve catalyst-controlled glycosylations, an important challenge in the carbohydrate field. Activation of nucleophiles by tetracoordinate organoboron complex formation has proved to be a broadly useful concept in catalysis, and has been adapted and extended by groups around the world. More recently, we have pioneered methods for site-selective, photocatalytic hydrogen atom transfer from sugars, enabling homologations and redox manipulations of the carbon backbone. Catalytic activation of organic substrates towards HAT shows promise as a general approach to achieving site-selective C–H functionalizations of complex molecules. In another line of ongoing research, we have shown that interactions of organoboron catalysts with azoles enable regioselective N-functionalizations of these important heterocyclic compounds. Alongside the discovery and development of these methods, we conduct detailed mechanistic analysis via state-of-the-art experimental and computational methods.