Biographical Notes
Professor Wiest obtained his Diploma (M.S.) in 1991 and his Dr. rer.
nat (Ph.D.) in 1993 from the University of Bonn in Germany for his work
on synthetic and mechanistic studies of radical cation
Diels-Alder-Reactions.
He then spend two years as a Feodor Lynen Fellow of the Alexander von
Humboldt
Foundation at UCLA working on the
application of ab initio quantum mechanical methods to the
mechanism
of pericyclic and enzymatic reactions. He joined the Notre Dame faculty
in 1995 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2001 and Full Professor in 2005. He was awarded
both a NSF CAREER Award and an NIH FIRST Award. He was named
one
of sixteen 2001 Camille Dreyfus
Teacher-Scholars
in
the nation. In 2004, he received a Kaneb Teaching Award from the
University of Notre Dame.
Research Topics
Physical and Theoretical Organic Chemistry, Electron Transfer Induced Processes, Computer Aided Molecular Design
The transfer of an electron from or to an substrate is one of the
most
simple processes in organic chemistry, yet it induces profound changes
in the properties and reactivity of that molecule. Therefore, reactions
which are not possible with the neutral molecules can be accomplished
with
a very high efficiency. After a back electron transfer, the neutral
product
molecule is obtained. This approach of electron transfer catalysis can
be used to catalyze various synthetically and biochemically important
reactions
such as the electron transfer catalyzed [2+2]-cycloreversion of the
thymine
dimer, which is formed by UV-irradiation of DNA. This reaction is an
essential
part of the DNA repair mechanism in many organisms. Prof. Wiest uses a
close connection of computational
chemistry and experimental
methods to elucidate the mechanisms and transition structures.
Currently,
three types of electron transfer catalyzed reaction are under study:
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