chemistry

Tehshik Yoon

Tehshik Yoon is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tehshik Yoon rather than just read about it. In short: Tehshik Peter Yoon (born 20 June 1975) is a Canadian-born chemist who studies new reaction methods for organic synthesis with the use of catalysis. Yoon currently is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the chemistry department.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Tehshik Peter Yoon (born 20 June 1975) is a Canadian-born chemist who studies new reaction methods for organic synthesis with the use of catalysis. Yoon currently is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the chemistry department. For his contributions to science, he has received numerous awards including the Beckman Young Investigator Award and National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

Background Yoon was born in Montreal, Quebec and grew up in Blacksburg, VA. As an undergraduate at Harvard University, he became fascinated by organic chemistry working in the laboratories of leading experts in contemporary asymmetric synthesis. Specifically, Yoon first experienced research in David A. Evans's lab studying stereocontrolled aldol reactions. After earning his A.B. in chemistry from Harvard in 1996, he proceeded to earn his M.S. under the guidance of Erick M. Carreira, who introduced Yoon to synthesis of complex natural products through applied photochemistry. Yoon was then accepted as Dave MacMillan's first graduate student, initially at UC Berkeley and later at Caltech, where he earned his Ph.D. investigating methods to control the stereochemistry of pericyclic reactions. He returned to Harvard in 2002 as a postdoc to research the use of hydrogen bonding urea catalysts in asymmetric synthesis in the laboratory of Eric Jacobsen.

Independent career Yoon has started his independent career in 2005 in the chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he has been ever since. His group specializes in studying the atomic level of control and molecular shape that can be manipulated by chemical synthesis. He has a research group that studies high energy and reactive molecules which convert into more stable molecules through chemical reactions. Such molecules include radicals and electronically organic triplets to more complex structures.

Research Yoon's research lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison focuses on developing new reaction methods for organic synthesis, especially those involving transition metal photochemistry, stereocontrolling, and dual catalysis. Overview

In particular, Yoon's group aims to leverage the ability of visible light–absorbing transition metal complexes to catalyze synthetic reactions. They investigate various mechanisms of photocatalytic activation, which differ from complex to complex depending on reactivity patterns of intermediates and their ability to be activated by sources of white light, including sunlight. Traditionally, chemists have used high-energy UV light to activate simple organic molecules, but Yoon's group focuses instead on expanding the application of visible light sources to synthesize increasingly complex target molecules. By providing strategies for activation of organic substrates that do not require specialized high-pressure UV photolysis apparatuses, these procedures are rendered more environmentally-friendly and widely available to synthetic and organic chemists. Significant Developments One notable process explored by Yoon's research is the generation of photoreductants by irradiation of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ that can initiate desired cycloaddition. The group proved [Ru(bpy)3]Cl2 to be an efficient photocatalyst for the formal [2+2] cycloaddition of enones and yields potential for development of new reaction protocols with reduced environmental impact. Yoon's group has also researched into crossed intermolecular [2+2] heterodimerizations, proving the possibility of using two dissimilar enone substrates to successfully produce these dimers. This method bypasses some synthetic limitations of cycloadditions conducted under standard UV photolysis conditions. Yoon reviews the ways how cocatalyst strategies can be applied to synthesis, ranging from developments in organic photochemistry and the precedents that brought interest in photocatalytic synthesis. The interaction between an excited photocatalyst and organic molecule can show a diverse sample of reactive intermediates that can be manipulated to form a synthetic bond construction. This impacts the photocatalyst and the photoactivation steps such as the interaction with the excited state of the photocatalyst or controlling the rate and selectivity of the photoactivation steps. Additionally, Yoon takes a dual approach to the asymmetric of enantioselective [2+2] photocycloadditions by using visible light that can absorb transition metal and a Lewis acid cocatalyst. Yoon was able to see that each catalyst can be enabled to be independent resulting in a broader scope and greater flexibility and efficiency in enantioselective photochemical cycloadditions. Along with the metal photocatalyst being compatible with several types of Lewis acid catalyst. Yoon developed the first highly enantioselective intermolecular reaction of α-amino radicals by using the dual-catalyst protocol to combine the transition metal photoredox catalysis with the chiral Lewis acid catalysis. The combination of these catalysts provided an approach to control the stereochemistry of a wide variety of photoinitiated organic reactions. Furthermore, Yoon was able to perform quantum yield measurements to showcase that three distinct photoredox processes and involvement in the formation of chain reactions. In the combination of doing quantum yield and luminescence quenching experiments, it displays a method to estimate the length of these chains, to determine a lower limit for these chains and to diagnose inefficient initiation steps in photoredox reactions. Yoon demonstrated that the chain processes dominated the product formation of the three photoredox transformations.

Awards and honors 2026 Samsung Ho-Am Prize for Chemistry and Life Sciences 2015 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award, granted by the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation 2013 William H. Kiekhofer Distinguished Teaching Award, presented by University of Wisconsin-Madison 2010 Eli Lilly Grantee Award, conferred by Eli Lilly & Company 2010 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, granted by the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation 2009 Amgen Young Investigator Award, sponsored by Amgen 2009 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 2008 Cottrell Scholar Award, presented by Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement (RCSA) 2008 Beckman Young Investigator Award, granted by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation 2007 NSF CAREER Award, initiated through the National Science Foundation CAREER Awards

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tehshik Yoon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tehshik Yoon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tehshik Yoon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tehshik Yoon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tehshik Yoon

In research: Tehshik Yoon appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tehshik Yoon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tehshik Yoon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 births, 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people, American people of Korean descent, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tehshik Yoon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tehshik Yoon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tehshik Yoon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tehshik Yoon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tehshik Yoon in simple terms?

Why does Tehshik Yoon matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tehshik Yoon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tehshik Yoon.