A.B. Cornell University (1989) Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley (1994) NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (1995-96) Marisa Kozlowski was born in Hamburg, Germany and raised in the town of Liverpool in upstate New York. She received an A. B. in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1989 and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994 for work on the rational design of enzyme inhibitors under the direction of Paul Bartlett. After studying asymmetric catalysis in the laboratories of David A. Evans at Harvard University as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, she joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and currently holds the rank of Professor of Chemistry. The major focus of Professor Kozlowski's research is the development of methods for the design of asymmetric catalysts. Two clear challenges in the area of asymmetric synthesis are the rapid identification of appropriate catalysts for given processes and the development of the cost-effective catalysts for large-scale applications. Professor Kozlowski's contributions have been recognized by a DuPont Young Investigator Award in 1998, an NSF CAREER Award in 2001, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Kahn Award for Distinguished Teaching by an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, an American Cancer Society Beginning Research Scholar Award in 2002, an ACS Travel Progress Award in 2007, the Philadelphia Organic Chemists’ Club Award in 2010, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, the Philadelphia ACS Section Award in 2012, and election as an American Chemical Society Fellow in 2013. In addition to over 130 independent publications, Professor Kozlowski coauthored with Professor Patrick Walsh the book “Fundamentals of Asymmetric Catalysis", available from University Science Books. She has served in several leadership roles for the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society and on numerous study sections including a term as Chair of the American Cancer Society CDD Study Section. She is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Organic Chemistry.

The central theme of research in my laboratory is the rational design of new methods and catalysts for use in organic synthesis. As well as using high throughput screening, we employ several novel computational tools for the discovery and optimization of new reagents and catalysts. In addition, we study mechanism in order to improve reaction processes and increase our understanding of fundamental reaction steps. The new synthetic methods developed are deployed as key steps in our total synthesis strategies to a variety of important pharmaceutical agents and natural products. For more information, see our group website using the link above.

Direct Oxidation of Aryl Malononitriles Enabling a Copper-Catalyzed Intermolecular Alkene Carbochlorination Prakash Basnet, Hong Gong, Charles E. Hendrick, and Marisa C. Kozlowski. Org. Lett. 2021, 23, 433-437. Copper Catalyzed Oxidative Arylation of Tertiary Carbon Centers Prakash Basnet, Melissa B. Sebold, Charles E. Hendrick, and Marisa C. Kozlowski. Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 9524-9528. Oxidative Photocatalytic Homo- and Cross-Coupling of Phenols: Non-Enzymatic, Catalytic Method for Coupling Tyrosine Kyle A. Niederer, Philip H. Gilmartin, Marisa C. Kozlowski. ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 14615–14623. Transition-metal-free Formal Cross-coupling of Aryl Methyl Sulfoxides and Alcohols via Nucleophilic Activation of C-S bond Guolin Li, Yexenia Nieves-Quinones, Hui Zhang, Qingjin Liang, Shuaisong Su, Qingchao Liu, Marisa C. Kozlowski, Tiezheng Jia. Nat Commun 2020, 11, 2890. Vanadium-catalyzed Oxidative Intramolecular Coupling of Tethered Phenols: Formation of Phenol-dienone Products Philip H. Gilmartin, Marisa C. Kozlowski. Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 2914-2919. Rational Design of New Dihydrobenzooxophosphole-Based Lewis Base Organocatalysts Bo Qu, Lalith P. Samankumara, Anjan Saha, Mac Schumer, Steve Han, Nizar Haddad, Carl Busacca, Nathan K. Yee, Marisa C. Kozlowski, Jinghua J. Song, Chris H. Senanayake. Synlett 2020, 31, 587-591. Diastereoselective Synthesis of Benzoxanthenones William C. Neuhaus, Marisa C. Kozlowski. Chemistry -An Asian Journal 2020, 15, 1039-1043. Metal-Free Cyanomethylation of Substituted Fluorenes and Oxindoles with Alkyl Nitriles Gang Hong, Pradip D. Nahide, Marisa C. Kozlowski. Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 1563-1568. Aerobic Catalyzed Oxidative Cross-Coupling of N,N-Disubstituted Anilines and Aminonaphthalenes and with Phenols and Naphthols Thomas J. Paniak, Marisa C. Kozlowski. Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 1765-1770. Total Synthesis of Pyrolaside B: Phenol Trimerization via Sequenced Oxidative C-C and C-O Coupling William C. Neuhaus, Marisa C. Kozlowski. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 7842-7847. Accounting for Strong Ligand Sensitivity in Pd-Catalyzed α-Arylation of Enolates from Ketones, Esters, and Nitroalkanes Sergei Tcyrulnikov, Marisa C. Kozlowski. J. Org. Chem. 2020, 85, 3465-3472. A biphenol Honokiol analog outcompetes oral antimicrobial agent cetylpyridinium chloride via a membrane-targeting mechanism Cristian Ochoa, Amy E. Solinski, Marcus Nolan, Madeline M. Dekarske, William M. Wuest, Marisa C. Kozlowski. ACS Infectious Diseases, 2020, 6, 74-79. Vanadium-Catalyzed Regioselective Oxidative Homocoupling of Alkenyl Phenols to Synthesize Lignan Analogs William C. Neuhaus, Adriana L. Jemison, Marisa C. Kozlowski. ACS Catalysis 2019, 9, 11067-11073. Cu-catalyzed Asymmetric Aminoboration of E-Alkenes with pivZPhos as a Versatile Ligand Linglin Wu, Olga Zatolochnaya, Bo Qu, Lucille Wells, Marisa C. Kozlowski, Chris Senanayake, Jinhua Song, Yongda Zhang. Org. Lett. 2019, 21, 8952-8956. C(sp3)–H Hydroxylation of Fluorenes, Oxindoles and Benzofuranones with Mg(NO3)2-HP(O)Ph2 Oxidation System Chen Hu, Gang Hong, Pradip D. Nahide, Yuchen He, Chen Zhou, Marisa C. Kozlowski, Limin Wang. Org. Chem. Front. 2019, 6, 3127. Reactions of 2‐Aryl‐1,3‐Dithianes and [1.1.1]Propellane Nisalak Trongsiriwat, Youge Pu, Yexenia Nieves-Quinones, Russell A. Shelp, Marisa C. Kozlowski, Patrick J. Walsh. Angew. Chem. 2019, 58, 13416-13420. Chromium-Salen Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Phenols: Mechanism and Origin of the Selectivity Yexenia Nieves-Quinones, Thomas J. Paniak, Young Eun Lee, Sun Min Kim, Sergei Tcyrulnikov, Marisa C. Kozlowski. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 10016-10032. Oxidative Coupling of 3-Oxindoles with Indoles and Arenes Houng Kang, Adriana L. Jemison, Erin Nigro, Marisa C. Kozlowski. ChemSusChem 2019, 12, 3144-3151. A versatile catalyst system for enantioselective synthesis of 2-substituted 1,4-benzodioxanes Eugene Chong, Bo Qu, Yongda Zhang, Zachary P. Cannone, Joyce C. Leung, Sergei Tcyrulnikov, Khoa D. Nguyen, Nizar Haddad, Soumik Biswas, Xiaowen Hou, Katarzyna Kaczanowska, Michał Chwalba, Andrzej Tracz, Stefan Czarnocki, Jinhua J. Song, Marisa C. Kozlowski and Chris H. Senanayake. Chem Sci 2019, 10, 4339-4345 Palladium-Catalyzed Chemoselective Activation of sp3 vs sp2 C–H Bonds: Oxidative Coupling To Form Quaternary Centers Gang Hong, Pradip D. Nahide, Uday Kumar Neelam, Peter Amadeo, Arjun Vijeta, John M. Curto, Charles E. Hendrick, Kelsey F. VanGelder, and Marisa C. Kozlowski ACS Catalysis. 2019, 9, 3716-3724. Enantioselective Synthesis of 4-Methyl-3,4-dihydroisocoumarin via Asymmetric Hydroformylation of Styrene Derivatives Bo Qu, Renchang Tan, Madison R. Herling, Nizar Haddad, Nelu Grinberg, Marisa C. Kozlowski, Xumu Zhang , and Chris H. Senanayake. J. Org. Chem. 2019, 4915-4920 . Special Issue “Excellence in Industrial Organic Synthesis 2019” Enantioselective Vanadium Catalyzed Oxidative Coupling: Development and Mechanistic Insights Kang, H.; Herling, M. R.; Niederer, K. A.; Lee, Y. E.; Reddy, P. V. G.; Dey, S.; Allen, S. E.; Sung, P.; Hewitt, K.; Toruellas, C.; Kim, G. J.; Kozlowski, M. C. J. Org. Chem. 2018, 83, 14362-14384.