Faculty

Room: Tech K352
Phone: 847-467-5963
Email: r-thomson@northwestern.edu
Thomson Research Group Website
Division: Organic
Research Interests: Organic, Synthetic, Catalysis
B.S.(Hons): The University of Auckland/The Australian National University, 1995–1998
Ph.D.: The Australian National University, 1999–2003
Post-doctoral Fellow: Harvard University, 2003–2006

Associate Research Administrator: Nikki Piech

Research Statement

Research within my group is focused at the frontiers of organic synthesis, both in terms of new reaction design, and in the synthesis of complex biologically active molecules. The rich interplay between these two sub-disciplines has been instrumental in driving forward the limits of our chemical knowledge and in defining new fields of research, such as chemical biology. Recent years have seen an explosion of scientific discoveries stemming from meaningful interdisciplinary, collaborative research: Organic synthesis has been, and will continue to be, at the heart of many of these endeavors.

Selected Publications

• Mundal, D. A.; Lutz, K. E.; Thomson, R. J. “A Direct Synthesis of Allenes by a Traceless Petasis Reaction,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 5782–5785.
• Larson, R. T.; Clift, M. C.; Thomson, R. J. “Total Synthesis of the Galbulimima Alkaloid (–)-GB17,” Angew. Chemie. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 2481–2484.
• Konkol, L. C.; Guo, F.; Sarjeant, A. A.; Thomson, R. J. “Enantioselective Total Synthesis and Studies into the Configurational Stability of Bismurrayaquinone A,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 9931–9934.             
• Strick, B. F.; Mundal, D. A.; Thomson, R. J. “An Oxidative [2,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangement of Allylic Hydrazides,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 14252–14255.
• Lutz, K. E.; Thomson, R. J. “A Hypervalent Iodide-Initiated Fragment Coupling Cascade of N-Allylhydrazones,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 4437–4440.
• Hu, D. X.; Clift, M. D.; Lazarski, K. E.; Thomson, R. J. “Enantioselective Total Synthesis and Confirmation of the Absolute Stereochemistry and Relative Stereochemistry of Streptorubin B,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 1799–1804.

Awards

• Amgen Young Investigator (2010)
• NSF CAREER Award (2009–2014)
• Thieme Chemistry Journal Award (2008)
• Alan Sargeson Merit Award (2001–2003)