Welcome to the Sessler Group!

Sessler group might be considered to be in the business of "Molecular Engineering" in that our research involves the design and construction of molecules carefully tailored so as to accomplish a specific objective. Often these objectives are medically or biologically inspired in that we seek to understand complex biochemical processes through the study of simple, well-characterized "model" compounds or use our knowledge of chemistry to prepare new compounds that we think could find application in the clinic as novel therapeutic or diagnostic agents. On the other hand, as often as not, we simply set out to prepare molecules or assemblies of architectural elegance with interesting chemical, physical, or biological properties. In both cases, however, we try to accomplish our goals through an appropriate combination of design, synthesis, and testing. As a result, the research projects in the group tend to be highly interdisciplinary in nature, involving at times elements of inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, spectroscopy, and synthetic organic chemistry. This helps keep our research activities fresh, focused, and exciting, as does the fact that much of what we do relates to the "real world" of patents, patients, and biotechnology.