A. Paul Alivisatos (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/pagrp/)
Research Interests
Prof. Alivisatos' research concerns the structural, thermodynamic, optical, and electrical
properties of colloidal inorganic nanocrystals. He investigates the fundamental physical and
chemical properties of nanocrystals and also works to develop practical applications of these new
materials in biomedicine and renewable energy.
Richard A. Andersen
Research Interests
Synthetic structural, mechanistic organometallic, and inorganic chemistry of the d- and f-block
metals is being studied and used to prepare molecules with unique stereochemistry and reactivity.
John Arnold (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/jagrp/index.html)
Research Overview
Work in our group targets synthetic chemistry, with the primary goal being to make, purify, and
study molecules and materials that are interesting by virtue of their chemical reactivity.
We have extensive experience in the synthesis and study of new and unusual molecular inorganic
and organometallic compounds of the d-, p-, and f- block elements. The emphasis is on preparing
compounds that exhibit novel reactivity and/or catalytic behavior, particularly in the context of
activation of small molecules such as H 2 , N 2 , O 2 , CO 2 and N 2 O. In addition to the dry-box and
Schlenk techniques used to prepare and manipulate compounds, we exploit a variety of
characterization methods, including multinuclear NMR, X-ray crystallography, EPR and
electrochemistry.
Robert G. Bergman (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/rgbgrp/index.html)
Research Interests
Organic and Inorganic Chemistry: Synthesis and Reaction Mechanisms — New organic,
inorganic and organotransition metal compounds are being synthesized. These materials are used
to develop and study new chemical reactions and the reactive intermediates involved in these
transformations, and to explore applications in homogeneous catalysis, supramolecular chemistry,
organic synthesis and green chemistry.
Carolyn R. Bertozzi (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/crbgrp/)
Research Interests
The Bertozzi Group studies cell surface interactions that contribute to human health and disease
with specific projects in the areas of cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection. We use the
techniques of organic synthesis, genetics, and biochemistry as tools to study and manipulate
complex cellular processes. Much of our research involves cell surface oligosaccharides,
biopolymers that contribute to cell surface recognition and cell-cell communication. In addition
to our work in the chemical biology of glycosylation, we have a program in biomaterials
centered at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Kristie A. Boering (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/kabgrp/)
Research Interests
Physical and Analytical Chemistry; Atmospheric Chemistry and Transport -- Chemistry and
mass transport in Earth's and extraterrestrial atmospheres are studied through kinetics and
photochemistry experiments in the laboratory, numerical modeling, and observations from highaltitude aircraft and balloons.
Jamie Doudna Cate (http://lanai.qb3.berkeley.edu/CateLab/Catelab_2011/Home.html)
Research Interests
Structural Biology, Biophysical Chemistry and Systems Biology – The mechanisms of bacterial
protein synthesis, viral control of human translation, and fungal growth on plant biomass are
being probed by x-ray crystallography, biophysical chemistry, genomics, proteomics, and
enzymology.
David Chandler (http://gold.cchem.berkeley.edu/The_Chandler_Group/Home.html)
Research Interests
Physical Chemistry · Theoretical · Condensed Matter · Molecular Structure and Dynamics —
Statistical mechanics and quantum theory of many body systems.
Christopher J. Chang (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/cjcgrp/)
Research Interests
Chemical Biology and Organic Chemistry; Bioinorganic and Inorganic Chemistry
New chemical tools for biological imaging and proteomics; new metal complexes for energy
catalysis and green chemistry
Michelle C. Chang (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/mccgrp/)
Research Interests
Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, and Synthetic Biology — Designing new biosynthetic
pathways for in vivo cellular production of biofuels and pharmaceuticals
Ronald C. Cohen (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/rccgrp/)
Research Interests
Atmospheric Chemistry — A chemical perspective on the effects of human activity on the
Earth's atmosphere and on exchanges between the atmosphere and biosphere
Tanja Cuk (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/tkgrp/)
Research Interests
We are a new research group in the Chemistry Department at UC Berkeley and the Chemical
Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that uses transient spectroscopy to
study the workings of artificial photosynthetic systems. Artificial photosynthesis—creating
renewable fuels from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide in the laboratory—has the potential to
transform the way our energy needs are met today. It also raises some of the most fundamental
questions in chemistry and materials science. What are the intermediate states of photo-driven
chemical reactions? How do we apply advanced spectroscopic tools to pinpoint the steps in a
mechanistic pathway for fuel generation? We investigate the machinery of transition metal based
light absorbers and catalysts in sunlight to fuel systems with three complimentary spectroscopic
tools that access the transient, photo-excited states: 1) transient optical spectroscopy 2) valence
band photoemission and 3) transient x-ray spectroscopy.
Felix R. Fischer (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/frfgrp/)
Research Interests
Organic and Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Supramolecular Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry,
Molecular Electronics
Our group is interested is the development of atomically unambiguously defined nanomaterials
and their incorporation into functional electronic devices such as organic field-effect transistors,
photovoltaic cells, and integrated molecular circuits.
Graham R. Fleming (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/grfgrp/)
Research Interests
Chemical and Biological Dynamics in the Condensed Phase — Ultrafast Spectroscopy combined
with theory and simulation is used to investigate many-body dynamics in liquids, solutions,
glasses, and proteins, especially photosynthetic proteins
Matthew B. Francis (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/mbfgrp/)
Research Interests
Organic, Bioorganic, and Materials Chemistry — Self-assembling networks of inorganic
nanocrystals from modified cytoskeletal proteins, functionalized viral capsids for drug delivery
and 3-D nanomaterial construction, and new synthetic methods for site-specific protein
modification
Phillip Geissler (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/plggrp/index.html)
Research Interests
Our research is focused on the statistical mechanics of biological polymers, of heterogeneous
materials, and of chemical dynamics in aqueous environments. Although these topics are
physically diverse, they are unified by features of disorder and strong non-covalent interactions
among many molecules. As such, they are amenable to similar approaches and can sometimes be
understood in common terms. Exploiting this connection, we devise analytical and
computational methods to reveal the underlying organization of complex systems at the frontiers
of biology, chemistry and materials science.
Naomi Ginsberg (http://sites.google.com/site/nsggrp/)
Research Interests
Physical and biophysical chemistry; light harvesting, spectroscopy, and imaging
Work in the Ginsberg Group is motivated by the need to spatially and temporally resolve the
complex dynamics of nanoscale processes, such as photosynthetic light harvesting. We use
multiple approaches, separately and in combination, including ultrafast spectroscopy, light
microscopy, and cathodoluminescence electron microscopy.
Jay T. Groves (http://groveslab.cchem.berkeley.edu/)
Research Interests
Physical chemistry in living systems
Professor Groves is primarily interested in role of spatial organization in biochemical reaction
systems. Living cells are not at all well-mixed reaction chambers. Rather, the molecular
processes of life occur in elaborate spatial patterns. This interplay between spatial organization
and the chemical reactions themselves in living systems adds a fascinating new dimension to
chemistry that is rarely encountered outside of biology. Specific research in Professor Groves’
laboratory focuses on how spatial organization influences signal transduction processes at the
cell membrane. The research methods combine techniques in optical microscopy and
spectroscopy with materials fabrication methods and cell biology. This integrated approach
enables the direct observation and physical manipulation of living reaction systems, down to the
single molecule level. The conceptual approach is rooted in physics and physical chemistry, with
the overarching goal of developing a quantitative and mechanistic understanding biochemical
processes in living systems.
Ming C. Hammond (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/mchgrp/)
Research Interests
Chemical Biology, Organic Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics — Reengineering
functional RNAs, small molecule targeting of RNAs, and mechanistic studies of RNA-based
gene regulation
Charles B. Harris (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/cbhgrp/)
Research Interests
Physical Chemistry Theoretical Chemistry Chemical Dynamics Surface Science — Femtosecond
lasers in the visible and infrared are used to study energy transfer, relaxation, and primary
processes in chemical reactions in liquids and the dynamical properties of electrons at interfaces
and surfaces on ultrafast timescales.
John F. Hartwig (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/jfhgrp/)
Research Interests
Organic, Organometallic, and Inorganic Chemistry: Professor Hartwig's research group focuses
on the discovery and understanding of new reactions of organic compounds catalyzed by
transition metal complexes. These findings result from a combination of organic synthesis,
organometallic synthesis and mechanistic analysis of catalytic systems.
Martin P. Head-Gordon (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/mhggrp/HeadGordon_Home.html)
Research Interests
Our research centers on the development and application of methods that predict the electronic
structure of interesting molecules. Exciting progress has occurred over the last decade to the
extent that many ground state molecular properties are accurately and routinely calculated. In
cases of exotic transient species, theoretical approaches can in fact be the most feasible tool
available. We seek to open new classes of chemical problems to study via electronic structure
theory. Realization of this goal generally requires the coupling of fundamental quantum
mechanics with large scale scientific computing.
Electronic structure theory is broad in scope with existing connections to many branches of
experimental chemistry, and the potential for many more. Interesting molecules may range from
diatomics through medium sized organic and inorganic species to adsorbate-surface systems. The
molecules may be in their ground electronic state or they may be electronically excited. Timeindependent properties such as geometric structure and relative energies are often of interest, or
we may be concerned with transitions between levels and dynamical processes.
Teresa Head-Gordon (http://thglab.berkeley.edu/)
Computation, theory, and experiment in the areas of biomolecules and biomaterials.
The simultaneous revolutions in molecular biology, scientific computing, and nanotechnology is
giving rise to new interdisciplinary research opportunities at the interfaces of engineering,
chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics and computational science. The projects worked on by
the Head-Gordon lab are united under a general theme of understanding and developing
engineering strategies to impact biological function with topics ranging from protein aggregation
disease, biomaterials assembly, and glassy dynamics of nanomaterials.
Bryan A. Krantz (http://mcb.berkeley.edu/labs/krantz/)
Research Interests
Biophysical chemistry of membrane proteins: molecular mechanisms of how proteins translocate
across lipid bilayers, protein unfolding machines, and bacterial membrane transporters.
Stephen R. Leone (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/leonegrp/)
Research Interests
Physical Chemistry, Chemical Dynamics and Nanostructured Materials
Professor Leone's research interests include ultrafast laser investigations and soft x-ray probing
of valence and core levels, attosecond physics and chemistry, state-resolved collision processes
and kinetics investigations, nanoparticle fluorescence intermittency, aerosol chemistry and
dynamics, probing with near field optical microscopy, and neutrals imaging.
Jeffrey R. Long (http://alchemy.cchem.berkeley.edu/)
Research Interests
Inorganic and Solid State Chemistry — New approaches to the synthesis of inorganic clusters
and solids are being developed, with emphasis on controlling structure as a means of tailoring
physical properties
Marcin Majda (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/mmmgrp/)
Research Interests
Bioanalytical Chemistry - Antibody-Antigen Equilibria in a Field of Magnetic Forces: Protein
Micro-Array Sensors
Electrochemistry - Dynamic Properties of Amphiphiles at the Air/Water Interface
Richard A. Mathies (http://endlesstrek.com/)
Research Interests
Biophysical, Bioanalytical and Physical Chemistry — Laser spectroscopy is used to study
excited-state reaction dynamics in photoactive proteins and to develop novel microfabricated
chemical and biochemical analysis devices.
Luciano G. Moretto (http://www.lbl.gov/~phair/)
Research Interests
Nuclear Science — Statistical and dynamical properties of nuclei and nuclear reactions
Daniel M. Neumark (http://bromine.cchem.berkeley.edu/)
Research Interests
Physical Chemistry, Molecular Structure and Dynamics - The spectroscopy and dynamics of
transition states, radicals, and clusters are investigated using frequency and time-domain
techniques
Heino Nitsche (http://heavyelements.lbl.gov/)
Research Interests
Nuclear Chemistry Nuclear Environmental Chemistry - Heavy elements are synthesized, and
first-time chemistry of the heaviest elements is explored. Molecular-level structural information
is essential to understand actinide interaction in environmental solutions, with minerals, soil
microbes and at interfaces of these components.
Alexander Pines (http://waugh.cchem.berkeley.edu/)
Research Interests
NMR and MRI; Materials Science; Biophysical Chemistry
Richmond Sarpong (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/rsgrp/)
Research Interests
Organic and Organometallic Chemistry — Total synthesis of biologically active and
architecturally complex natural products as a platform for the development of new synthetic
methods and strategies.
Dave Savage
Research Interests
Biophysics, Synthetic Biology, and Systems Biology - Understanding metabolism through
systems and synthetic biological approaches.
Richard J. Saykally (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/rjsgrp/)
Research Interests
Physical Chemistry, Surface Science, Analytical Chemistry, Materials and Solid State
Chemistry — New laser and synchrotron spectroscopy methods are developed for the study of
chemistry in aqueous systems, properties and reactions at liquid surfaces, nonlinear optical
imaging, new forms of matter, and molecular astrophysics.
Gabor A. Somorjai (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/gasgrp/Welcome.html)
Research Interests
Physical Chemistry, Solid State Chemistry, Surface Science and Catalysis — An atomic and
molecular level understanding of surfaces is the key to understanding macroscopic surface
phenomena like catalysis, adhesion, lubrication, and biocompatibility
Angelica Stacy (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/amsgrp/index.html)
Research Interests
Solid State, Physical and Inorganic Chemistry — As chemists interested in solids, we synthesize
materials with interesting physical properties that can be applied to emerging technologies and
elucidate their behavior.
T. Don Tilley (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/tdtgroup/)
Research Interests
Organometallic, Polymer and Materials Chemistry; Catalysis — Synthetic, structural, and
reactivity studies on transition metal compounds are pursued in the search for new chemical
transformations, polymers with novel properties, catalysts, and advanced solid state materials.
Dean Toste (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/toste/index.html)
Research Interests
Organic, Organometallic Chemistry — Organic and organometallic chemistry are employed in
the development of new synthetic methods, enantioselective catalysts and strategies for the
synthesis of natural products.
Peter C. Vollhardt (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/kpvgrp/research.html)
Research Interests
Organic and Organometallic Chemistry — Transition metals and novel synthetic methodology
enable the synthesis of complex natural and unnatural products.
David E. Wemmer (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/wemmer/home.html)
Research Interests
Biophysical Chemistry: Proteins, Nucleic Acids, NMR Spectroscopy — Magnetic resonance
methods are being used to investigate the solution structure of proteins and DNA, and the nature
and range of their conformational fluctuations, allowing a better understanding of how these
molecules carry out their various functions.
K. Birgitta Whaley (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/kbwgrp/)
Research Interests
Whaley group research is divided into two areas: quantum information and control, and large
scale coherent systems. The latter includes helium clusters, BEC, and "cat states"—mesoscopic
superpositions of quantum states.
Evan R. Williams (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/erwgrp/index.html)
Research Interests
Professor Williams' research group is developing and applying novel instrumental and
computational techniques in mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, separations, and
laser spectroscopy to solve problems of fundamental interest in chemistry and biochemistry.
Current projects are focused in three areas; 1) elucidating the structures, functions, and dynamics
of biomolecules and their macromolecular complexes with emphasis on protein sequencing,
conformational elucidation, and protein-protein interactions, 2) understanding ion solvation, how
water organizes around different ions and how water affects molecular structure and
intermolecular interactions. Competitive interactions between ions, water, and biomolecules of
interest are investigated by probing ions in size-selected trapped nanodrops using spectroscopy
and ion-electron recombination experiments and 3) developing new instrumentation to analyze
complex mixtures, including contents of cells, using microfabricated devices coupled with mass
spectrometry and developing probes for rapid chemical analysis of surfaces with high sensitivity.
A number of different types of state-of-the-art mass spectrometers and lasers are used in these
studies.
Omar Yaghi
Research Description
Reticular chemistry is concerned with linking of molecular building blocks (organic molecules,
inorganic clusters, dendrimers, peptides, proteins,...) into predetermined structures in which such
units are repeated and are held together by strong bonds. This research has led to the discovery of
many different classes of porous crystals: metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic
frameworks, and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks. The ultrahigh porosity (up to 6,000-10,000
meter square per gram) of these crystals make them useful in the storage and separation of gases
such as hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, and potentially as reaction media for transformation
of gases to fuels.
Peidong Yang (http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/pdygrp/main.html)
Research Interests
Materials Chemistry, Inorganic chemistry — Low-dimensional nanoscopic building blocks are
used to assemble complex architectures with novel electronic and photonic properties.