Thomas Lectka

Synthetic Organic Chemistry and Catalysis
Johns Hopkins University
New Chemistry Building 315
3400 North Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21218
Phone: 410.516.6448
Email: lectka@jhu.edu
Lectka Group Website
Ph.D. - Cornell University
Alexander von Humboldt Fellow - Universität Heidelberg
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow - Harvard University
Research in the Lectka Group centers around the development of fundamentally new catalytic, asymmetric reactions to yield products of academic and pharmaceutical interest. Along those lines, utility is a paramount goal. For example, we have developed the first catalytic synthesis of beta-lactams in high enantioselectivity, employing chiral nucleophiles as catalysts, and are at present developing new catalytic, asymmetric halogenation reactions (especially medicinally relevant fluorination reactions), representing a relatively unexplored frontier in organic chemistry. In close association with reaction development, we study in detail the mechanisms of our new reactions in order to optimize processes for large-scale production of medicinally interesting compounds. Asymmetric catalysis on solid phase supports and reaction columns is also of current interest in our group, and several topical projects are now underway.

