Trandon Bender, Assistant Professor

Chemistry Building, 4501 Elkhorn Ave
Norfolk, VA 23529
tbender@odu.edu

Research Interests: Our research interests lie at the intersection of organic synthesis and organometallic chemistry for the development of new catalysts. We seek to prepare catalyst scaffolds that will enable us to understand how covalent and non-covalent interactions can be harnessed to develop more reactive, selective, and modular catalysts. Specifically, our lab will investigate how electrostatics in the form of an oriented electric field can modulate catalyst performance by influencing fundamental steps in organometallic catalysis. In addition, we will probe the ability of catalyst-induced strain to achieve carbon-carbon bond activation with the goal of producing unique molecular scaffolds through non-obvious disconnections. Lastly, we will develop catalysts that contain multiple catalytically active metals in close proximity to perform innovative polymerization reactions where we will prepare polymeric materials that cannot be prepared using mono-metallic polymerization catalysts.

Kyle Lambert, Assistant Professor

Chemistry Building, 4501 Elkhorn Ave
Norfolk, VA 23529
kmlamber@odu.edu

Research Interests: Synthetic Methods, Natural Product Synthesis; Dr. Lambert's research interests are in the development of novel synthetic methods and the total synthesis of biologically relevant natural products. Our interest lies in the development of robust methodologies, particularly those involving transition metal and nitroxide catalysts, to access the complex architectures found within natural products, as well as, core structural motifs that are of interest to both medicinal and synthetic chemists.