Research Interests
Chemistry
Research Statement
Enzymes that contain redox-active metals (e.g. iron) as cofactors catalyze many of oxidation and reduction reactions known in Nature. We study iron-containing enzymes that utilize dioxygen to oxidize specific aliphatic C-H bonds of their substrates. We use a combination of kinetic and spectroscopic methods to monitor changes occurring at the iron site during these reactions. We trapped and characterized several C-H-cleaving intermediates. The results provide detailed insight into the reaction mechanism.
