Tehshik Peter Yoon was born on 20 June 1975 and is a Canadian-born chemist who studies the new reaction methods for organic synthesis with the use of catalysis.
19 Facts About Tehshik Yoon
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Tehshik Yoon was born in Montreal, Quebec and grew up in Blacksburg, VA.
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Specifically, Yoon first experienced research in David A Evans's lab studying stereocontrolled aldol reactions.
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Tehshik Yoon was then accepted as Dave MacMillan's first graduate student, initially at UC Berkeley and later at Caltech, where he earned his Ph.
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Tehshik Yoon returned to Harvard in 2002 as a postdoc to research the use of hydrogen bonding urea catalysts in asymmetric synthesis in the laboratory of Eric Jacobsen.
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Tehshik Yoon has started his independent career in 2005 in the chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he has been ever since.
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Tehshik Yoon's group specializes in studying the atomic level of control and molecular shape that can be manipulated by chemical synthesis.
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Tehshik Yoon has a research group that studies high energy and reactive molecules which convert into more stable molecules through chemical reactions.
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Traditionally, chemists have used high-energy UV light to activate simple organic molecules, but Tehshik Yoon's group focuses instead on expanding the application of visible light sources to synthesize increasingly complex target molecules.
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One notable process explored by Tehshik Yoon's research is the generation of photoreductants by irradiation of [Ru3] that can initiate desired cycloaddition.
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Tehshik Yoon's group has researched into crossed intermolecular [2+2] heterodimerizations, proving the possibility of using two dissimilar enone substrates to successfully produce these dimers.
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Additionally, Tehshik Yoon takes a dual approach to the asymmetric of enantioselective [2+2] photocycloadditions by using visible light that can absorb transition metal and a Lewis acid cocatalyst.
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Tehshik Yoon was able to see that each catalyst can be enabled to be independent resulting in a broader scope and greater flexibility and efficiency in enantioselective photochemical cycloadditions.
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Furthermore, Tehshik Yoon was able to perform quantum yield measurements to showcase that three distinct photoredox processes and involvement in the formation of chain reactions.
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Tehshik Yoon demonstrated that the chain processes dominated the product formation of the three photoredox transformations.
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Tehshik Yoon is openly gay and has been a vocal advocate for greater inclusion of and support for diverse members of the STEM community throughout his career.
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Tehshik Yoon is a long time member of the UW-Madison Committee on LGBT Issues, which he chaired between 2013 and 2014.
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Tehshik Yoon has given numerous invited lectures on topics relating to being LGBTQIA+ in STEM.
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Tehshik Yoon lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his husband, Michael Velliquette, who is an artist.