MacArthur Fellows Program - Jin-Quan Yu

Jin-Quan Yu is a synthetic chemist pioneering new techniques for the functionalization of
carbon-hydrogen (C–H) bonds. In order to create many of the chemical compounds used in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials science, inert C–H bonds in organic molecules must be broken so that a more complex cluster of atoms (the functional group) can be chemically attached—a process known as C–H functionalization. Activation of C–H bonds requires the use of metal-based catalysts that are guided to the targeted bond by other nearby directing functional groups (or ligands), which often must be removed to yield the desired product once the new functional group is attached.
https://www.macfound.org/fellows/976/