The economic impact of catalysis is significant contributing 30–40% of global GDP. In this context, phase-transfer catalysis is a powerful manifold for asymmetric synthesis. Chiral cationic or anionic PTC strategies have enabled a variety of transformations, yet studies on the use of insoluble inorganic salts as nucleophiles for the synthesis of enantioenriched molecules have remained elusive. A long-standing challenge is the development of methods for asymmetric carbon–fluorine bond formation from cost-effective alkali metal fluorides.

Research in the Romero Polymer Lab focuses on the development of novel methodologies for precision synthesis and functionalization of polymeric materials, seeking to address longstanding challenges in stimuli-responsive materials, optoelectronically active polymers, and polymer sustainability. Our efforts utilize a variety of synthetic tools to achieve molecular-level control over polymer structure and properties, with a particular emphasis on photochemistry, electrochemistry, and main group chemistry.

There are trillions of frenemies living in each person’s intestines; these are the gut bacteria that compose the human gut microbiota. Whether each is friend or foe depends on the symphony of molecules mingling with gut bacteria and their human host.

All bacteria utilize the glycopeptide polymer peptidoglycan to shield themselves from environmental stress. Although often thought of as a "conserved" feature of the cell wall, peptidoglycan exhibits multiple levels of structural heterogeneity across our microbiota. Different bacteria use unique combinations of building blocks to assemble the biopolymer as well as collections of enzymes to remodel the scaffold during growth and division. This degradative process leads to a plethora of individual repeating units, which may escape the bacterium and activate host innate immune pathways.