Romero, Erik
Organic synthesis and methodology development, catalysis, photoredox chemistry, mechanistic investigation

Contact Information
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Office: Tata Hall 1205
Phone: 858-246-3608
Email: earomero@ucsd.edu
Web: r2g.ucsd.edu
Group: View group members
Education
2018 Ph.D., UC San Diego
2014 B.Sc., UC Riverside
Appointments
2021 Assistant Professor, UC San Diego
2019 California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley
Awards and Academic Honors
2023
Hellman Fellow
2020
UCSD Chem & Biochem Outstanding Dissertation Award
2019
UCSD Chancellor's Dissertation Medal
2019
California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship
2016
UCSD GAANN Fellowship
2014
ACS Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry
2012
UCR MARC-U* Fellow
Research Interests
Our research interests lie in two areas of chemical space: (1) re-designing known reactions under milder reaction conditions and in a greener fashion and (2) discovering new reactions that expand the arsenal of transformations available for academic, industrial, and medicinal chemists. As such, we are interested in developing reactions wherein a photoredox catalyst, that is excited by visible light, works synergistically with a ground-state transition-metal catalyst to promote synthetically valuable transformations of enthalpically strong bonds. The mechanisms of these processes will be investigated such that the insights obtained can be leveraged to rationally design next-generation catalysts featuring heightened activities and selectivities. By accomplishing these goals, we can drive the development of new synthetic strategies that maximize the overall atom-efficiencies of multi-step synthetic sequences, which ultimately saves time, money, and precious limited resources.
Primary Research Area
Organic Chemistry
Interdisciplinary interests
Synthesis
Physical Organic

Outreach Activities
Life of a Chemist: A TikTok Story (@r2gchemist)

Society for Latinos in Physical Sciences (SLIPS)

Selected Publications