We discover, design and develop new catalysts for chemical synthesis that are easily prepared, are stable to air and moisture and can be recycled. We introduce efficient new chiral catalysts that can be used to synthesize important enantiomerically pure compounds for the preparation of biologically and medicinally active agents. Our focus is on transformations that are truly important (such as conjugate additions and olefin metathesis), but cannot be catalyzed efficiently by existing methods. We are interested in complex molecule total synthesis (testing our catalysts), study of reaction mechanism (how do our catalysts work?) and new approaches to catalyst discovery (combinatorial chemistry).

Representative Key Publications:

"Cascade Catalysis in Synthesis. An Enantioselective Route to Sch 38516 (and Fluvirucin B1) Macrolactam," A. F. Houri, Z. Xu, D. A. Cogan, A. H. Hoveyda J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 2943.

"Recyclable and Efficient Monomeric and Dendritic Ru-Based Metathesis Catalysts," S. B. Garber, J. S. Kingsbury, B. L. Gray, A. H. Hoveyda J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 8168.

“N-Heterocyclic Carbenes in Natural Product Synthesis.  Application of Ru-Catalyzed Asymmetric Ring-Opening Metatesis and Cu-Catalyzed Allylic Alkylation to Total Synthesis of Baconipyrone C,” D. G. Gillingham, A. H. Hoveyda, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2007, 45, 3860.