Research in the Yoon group centers on the development of new reaction methodology. Our primary research involves the discovery of novel enantioselective catalytic systems that mediate organic transformations that are synthetically useful and involve fundamentally interesting modes of action. Areas of current research include oxidative alkane functionalization, olefin aminohydroxylation, and synthetic photocatalysis.

The goals of our research are (1) to develop powerful new tools with broad applications in synthetic organic chemistry, (2) to demonstrate the utility of these reactions in the context of total synthesis, and (3) to achieve a better understanding of the general design principles that characterize effective asymmetric catalysts.