Jon T. Njardarson*

Degrees and Appointments 

• Associate Professor 2010-2016, University of Arizona, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Assistant Professor 2004-2010, Cornell University, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
• Assistant Professor 2005-2010, Tri-Institutional: Rockefeller University, MSKCC and Weill-Cornell
• Postdoctoral Fellow 2001-2004, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (with Professor Samuel J. Danishefsky)
• Ph.D. 1994-2001, Yale University
• B.S. 1990-1993, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

Specialties: Synthesis, Synthetic Methods Development, Natural Products

Research Group Web Page

Research Description

The main objectives of our research program at the University of Arizona are twofold: 1) Development and study of useful new synthetic strategies and methods for organic chemistry. 2) Total synthesis of complex natural products exhibiting unique biological activity. In our laboratory, these two research areas are usually closely linked. All of our synthetic blueprints are expected to showcase a new synthetic method or a unique disconnection that is ideally suited for the target architecture thus ensuring a short and efficient synthesis, which in turn provides us with access to valuable intermediates and products for deciphering molecular mechanisms and biological evaluation. By adhering to such stringent design criteria, we find without exception that a fertile environment for new ideas is invariably created. The harmony between new reaction development and natural product total synthesis serves also to showcase the strengths of the new method over existing methods while at the same time enabling access to the natural product. It is important also not to forget that in addition to the valuable training that total synthesis provides students, the unanticipated challenges and the realization of limitations of existing methods that most good synthetic plans are faced with constantly remind us that the richest source of new ideas is often the synthetic journey itself.