Dr. Eric Jacobsen

Biography

Eric Jacobsen joined Harvard University as a full professor in 1993 and was named the Sheldon Emory Professor of Organic Chemistry in 2001. He served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology from 2010 to 2015. Jacobsen directs a research group of 20-25 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, focusing on the discovery of useful catalytic reactions by applying state-of-the-art mechanistic and computational techniques to analyze chemical reactions. The catalysts developed in his lab have found widespread applications in both industry and academia, including metal-salen complexes for asymmetric epoxidation and conjugate additions, chromium-Schiff base complexes for a broad range of enantioselective pericyclic reactions, and organic hydrogen bond-donor catalysts for the activation of neutral cationic electrophiles. His mechanistic analyses have helped uncover general principles in catalyst design, electronic tuning of selectivity, cooperative homo- and hetero-bimetallic catalysis, and hydrogen-bond donor asymmetric catalysis. Prior to joining Harvard, Jacobsen was on the faculty of the University of Illinois from 1988 to 1993. He earned a B.S. degree from New York University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, before completing postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research Interests