David Powers
  • Professor
  • Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies
Research Areas
  • Catalysis
  • Inorganic
  • Materials
  • Organic
  • Organometallic
  • Supramolecular
  • Sustainability & Green
  • Synthesis

Research Interests

Catalysis lies at the heart of many unmet chemical challenges. Research efforts in our group focus on development of new catalytic chemistry to impact both chemical synthesis as well as chemical storage of solar energy. Projects span organic, organometallic, and inorganic chemistries and rely on the tools of modern synthetic chemistry and spectroscopy, as well as advanced characterization techniques supported at synchrotron X-ray sources. Representative research interests include: shape-selective catalysis, solar energy storage in organic solar-thermal flow batteries, and aerobic oxidation chemistry for C–H functionalization reactions. We are seeking students who wish to gain expertise in synthetic chemistry and reaction mechanism elucidation.

Educational Background

  • B. A., 2006, Franklin and Marshall College
  • Ph. D., 2011, Harvard University
  • NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011-2015, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University

Awards & Honors

  • DOE Early Career Award
  • NSF CAREER Award
  • 2019 ACS Organic Division Academic Young Investigator
  • Montague-Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar
  • 2020 Alfred P. Sloan Fellow
  • National Institutes of Health Outstanding Investigator Award (MIRA-Maximizing Investigators' Research Award)

Selected Publications

  • Van Trieste, G. P., III; Reid, K. A.; Hicks, M. H.; Das, A.; Figgins, M. T.; Bhuvanesh, N.; Ozarowski, A.; Telser, J.; Powers, D. C. Nitrene Photochemistry of Manganese N-Haloamides. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 26647–26655.

  • Das, A.; Wang, C.-H.; Van Trieste, G. P., III; Sun, C.-J.; Chen, Y.-S.; Reibenspies, J. H.; Powers, D. C. In Crystallo Snapshots of Rh2-Catalyzed C–H Amination. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 19862–19867.

  • Gao, W.-Y.; Sur, A.; Wang, C.-H.; Lorzing, G. R.; Antonio, A. M.; Ezazi, A. A.; Bhuvanesh, N.; Bloch, E. D.; Powers, D. C. Atomically Precise Crystalline Materials Based on Kinetically Inert Metal Ions via Reticular Mechanopolymerization. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 10878–10883.

  • Maity, A.; Frey, B. L.; Hoskinson, N. D.; Powers, D. C. Electrocatalytic C–N Coupling via Anodically Generated Hypervalent Iodine Intermediates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 4990–4995.