B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1991. Altair Professor, 2012-2016, Norman Chandler Professor of Chemistry, 2016-present.

The Fu group is focused on the development of transition-metal catalyzed reactions for organic synthesis, with an emphasis on enantioselective processes. In particular, the group is developing nickel-catalyzed carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions of alkyl electrophiles, including enantioconvergent couplings of racemic electrophiles and racemic nucleophiles, as well as copper-catalyzed carbon–heteroatom bond-forming reactions of alkyl electrophiles, including asymmetric processes (a collaboration with the Peters lab). Mechanistic investigations play an important role in our studies.

Nickel-Catalyzed Negishi Arylations of Propargylic Bromides: A Mechanistic Investigation. Schley, N. D.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 16588-16593. Biphenyl-Derived Phosphepines as Chiral Nucleophilic Catalysts: Enantioselective [4+1] Annulations To Form Functionalized Cyclopentenes. Ziegler, D. T.; Riesgo, L.; Ikeda, T.; Fujiwara, Y.; Fu, G. C. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 13183-13187. Stereoconvergent Arylations and Alkenylations of Unactivated Alkyl Electrophiles: Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of Secondary Sulfonamides and Sulfones. Choi, J.; Martín-Gago, P.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 12161-12165 Enantioselective Nucleophile-Catalyzed Synthesis of Tertiary Alkyl Fluorides via the α-Fluorination of Ketenes: Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies. Lee, S. Y.; Neufeind, S.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 8899-8902 Oxygen Nucleophiles as Reaction Partners in Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Cross-Couplings: O-Arylations of Phenols at Room Temperature. Tan, Y.; Muñoz-Molina, J . M.; Fu, G. C.; Peters, J. C. Chem. Sci. 2014, 5, 2831-3835. Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Tertiary Alkyl Fluorides: Negishi Cross-Couplings of Racemic α,α-Dihaloketones. Liang, Y.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 5520–5524. Catalytic Enantioselective Cyclization/Cross-Coupling with Alkyl Electrophiles. Cong, H.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 3788–3791. Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Alkylation of Amides with Unactivated Secondary Alkyl Halides at Room Temperature. Do, H.-Q.; Bachman, S.; Bissember, A. C.; Peters, J. C.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 2162–2167. Nickel/Bis(oxazoline)-Catalyzed Asymmetric Negishi Arylations of Racemic Secondary Benzylic Electrophiles to Generate Enantioenriched 1,1-Diarylalkanes. Do, H.-Q.; Chandrashekar, E. R. R.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 16288-16291. A Versatile Approach to Ullmann C–N Couplings at Room Temperature: New Families of Nucleophiles and Electrophiles for Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Processes. Ziegler, D. T.; Choi, J.; Muñoz-Molina, J. M.; Bissember, A. C.; Peters, J. C.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 13107-13112. Enantioconvergent Cross-Couplings of Racemic Alkylmetal Reagents with Unactivated Secondary Alkyl Electrophiles: Catalytic Asymmetric Negishi α-Alkylations of N-Boc-pyrrolidine. Cordier, C. J.; Lundgren, R. J.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 10946-10949. A New Family of Nucleophiles for Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Cross-Couplings via Single-Electron Transfer: Reactions of Thiols with Aryl Halides Under Mild Conditions (0 °C). Uyeda, C.; Tan, Y.; Fu, G. C.; Peters, J. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 9548-9552. Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Alkylations of Amines with Alkyl Halides: Photoinduced, Copper-Catalyzed Couplings of Carbazoles. Bissember, A. C.; Lundgren, R. J.; Creutz, S. E.; Peters, J. C.; Fu, G. C. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 5129-5133 Nickel-Catalyzed Carbon–Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions of Unactivated Tertiary Alkyl Halides: Suzuki Arylations. Zultanski, S.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 624-627 Catalytic Asymmetric C–N Bond Formation: Phosphine-Catalyzed Intra- and Intermolecular γ-Addition of Nitrogen Nucleophiles to Allenoates and Alkynoates. Lundgren, R. J.; Wilsily, A.; Marion, N.; Ma, C.; Chung, Y. K.; Fu, G. C. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 2525-2528 Photoinduced Ullmann C–N Coupling: Demonstrating the Viability of a Radical Pathway . Creutz, S. E.; Lotito, K. J.; Fu, G. C.; Peters, J. C. Science 2012, 338, 647–651 Catalytic Enantioselective Cross-Couplings of Secondary Alkyl Electrophiles with Secondary Alkylmetal Nucleophiles: Negishi Reactions of Racemic Benzylic Bromides with Achiral Alkylzinc Reagents. Binder, J. T.; Cordier, C. J.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17003-17006 Nonenzymatic Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of Secondary Alcohols via Enantioselective Acylation: Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies. Lee, S. Y.; Murphy-Knight, J. M.; Ukai, A.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 15149-15153 A Mild, Palladium-Catalyzed Method for the Dehydrohalogenation of Alkyl Bromides: Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies. Bissember, A. C.; Levina, A.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 14232-14237 Nickel-Catalyzed Coupling Reactions of Alkyl Electrophiles, Including Unactivated Tertiary Halides, To Generate Carbon–Boron Bonds. Dudnik, A. S.; Fu, G. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 10693-10697