Professor Michael J. Krische obtained a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley (1989), where he performed research with Professor Henry Rapoport. After a year abroad as a Fulbright Fellow, he initiated doctoral studies at Stanford University with Professor Barry Trost as a Veatch Graduate Fellow. Following receipt of his Ph.D. degree (1996), he joined the laboratory of Professor Jean-Marie Lehn at the Université Louis Pasteur as an NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow. In 1999, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. He was promoted directly to the rank of full professor (2004) and shortly thereafter appointed the Robert A. Welch Chair in Science (2007). Professor Krische has pioneered a new class of C-C bond formations that merge the characteristics of carbonyl addition and catalytic hydrogenation.

Professor Krische’s research lies at the interface of enantioselective synthesis, organometallic chemistry and chemical biology. His laboratory has developed a broad, new family of stereo- and site-selective C-C couplings that merge the characteristics of catalytic hydrogenation and carbonyl addition. Hydrogenation or transfer hydrogenation of π-unsaturated hydrocarbons in the presence of carbonyl compounds or imines promotes C=X (X = O, NR) addition. In related hydrogen auto-transfer reactions, alcohols served dually as reductants and carbonyl proelectrophiles, enabling direct, enantioselective conversion of lower alcohols to higher alcohols. These methods streamline the total synthesis of polyketide natural products, enabling studies of their biological properties.

Liang, T.; Zhang, W.; Krische M. J. “Iridium Catalyzed C-C Coupling of a Simple Propargyl Ether with Primary Alcohols: Enantioselective Homoaldol Addition via Redox-Triggered (Z)-Siloxyallylation,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137 (2015): 16024. Kasun, Z. A.; Gao, X.; Lipinski, R. M.; Krische, M. J.“Direct Generation of Triketide Stereopolyads via Merged Redox-Construction Events: Total Synthesis of (+)-Zincophorin Methyl Ester,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137 (2015): 8900. Gao, X.; Woo, S. K.; Krische, M. J. “Total Synthesis of 6-Deoxyerythronolide B via C-C Bond-Forming Transfer Hydrogenation,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135 (2013): 4223. Dechert-Schmitt, A.-M. R.; Schmitt, D. C.; Krische, M. J. “Site-Selective Primary Alcohol Dehydrogenation Enables Protecting Group-Free Diastereoselective C-C Coupling of 1,3-Glycols and Allyl Acetate,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52 (2013): 3195. Zbieg, J. R.; Yamaguchi, E.; McInturff, E. L.; Krische, M. J. “Enantioselective C-H Crotylation of Primary Alcohols via Hydrohydroxyalkylation of Butadiene,” Science 336 (2012): 324. Lu, Y.; Woo, S. K.; Krische, M. J. “Total Synthesis of Bryostatin 7 via C-C Bond Forming Hydrogenation,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132 (2011): 13876.