Joseph Clark
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Joseph Clark
Assistant Professor
Joseph Clark was born and raised in Rochester, NY. He attended St. John Fisher University, graduating with a B.S. in chemistry in 2008. In pursuit of his interest in organic chemistry method development and catalysis, he completed a Ph.D. in the research group of Professor Steven T. Diver at the University at Buffalo in 2014. He joined Professor M. Christina White’s group in September of 2014 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While in the White group he received a NIH NRSA Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship. Joseph joined the chemistry faculty at Marquette University in August of 2018 as an assistant professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024. Beginning August 2024, Joseph accepted a faculty position in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and moved his group there. Joseph is a recipient of several major grants and awards such as the NIH ESI MIRA, NSF CAREER award, ACS PRF, and Thieme Chemistry Journals Award.
Education
B.S., St. John Fisher University (2008)
Ph.D., University at Buffalo SUNY (2014)
Research
The Clark laboratory is engaged in Synthetic Organic Chemistry research. We also perform research in the areas of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry, and Medicinal Chemistry. We actively pursue the development of novel synthetic techniques to precisely deuterate small molecules. This area has significant implications in the development of new and safer small molecule drugs. Our reactions are currently being used to develop new drugs and study the metabolism of existing drug molecules. We are now expanding our research interests to the field of radiolabeling of small molecules. The Clark Lab is supported by several prestigious major grants, including the NIH ESI MIRA, NSF CAREER Award, and ACS PRF. Research in the Clark Lab has attracted the interest of pharmaceutical companies and we have ongoing collaborations with AstraZeneca and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. We also collaborate with the Atomic Commission (CEA) in Paris-Saclay, BrightSpec Inc., and several world-renowned academic research labs. Graduate students will have the opportunity to participate in these collaborations by working on-site at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Boston, MA, USA), AstraZeneca (Gothenburg, SWE) and CEA (Paris, FRA).
Selected Publications
Sloane, S. E.; Vang, Z. P.; Nelson, G.; Qi, L.; Sonstrom, R. E.; Alansari, I. Y.; Behlow, K. T.; Pate, B. H.*; Neufeldt, S. R.*; Clark, J. R.* “Precision Deuteration Using Cu-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrodeuteration to Access Small Molecules Deuterated at the Benzylic Position.” JACS Au, 2023, 3, 1583-1589.
Vang, Z. P.; Sonstrom, R. E.; Scolati, H. N.; Clark, J. R.*; Pate, B. H.* “Assignment of the Absolute Configuration of Molecules That are Chiral by Virtue of Deuterium Substitution Using Chiral Tag Molecular Rotational Resonance Spectroscopy.” Chirality, 2023, 35, 856-883 (Invited Submission for Special Issue)
Sonstrom, R. E.; Vang, Z. P.; Scolati, H. N.; Neill, J. L.; Pate, B. H.*; Clark, J. R.* “Rapid Enantiomeric Excess Measurements of Enantioisotopomers by Molecular Rotational Resonance Spectroscopy.” Org. Process Res. Dev. 2023, 27, 1185-1197. (Invited Submission for Special Issue: Advances and Applications in Catalysis with Earth-Abundant Metals)
Hintzsche, S. H.; Vang, Z. P.; Rivera Torres, E.; Podoski, M.; Clark, J. R.* “Highly Selective Catalytic Transfer Hydrodeuteration of Cyclic Alkenes.” J. Label. Compd. Radiopharm. 2023, 66, 86-94.
Mills, M. D.; Sonstrom, R. E.; Vang, Z. P.; Neill, J. L.; Scolati, H. N.; West, C. T.; Pate, B. H.*; Clark, J. R.* “Enantioselective Synthesis of Enantioisotopomers with Quantitative Chiral Analysis by Chiral Tag Rotational Spectroscopy.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2022, 61, e202207275 (Received the Very Important Paper VIP designation)
Reyes, A.; Rivera Torres, E.; Vang, Z. P.; Clark, J. R.* “Highly Regioselective Copper-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrodeuteration of Unactivated Terminal Alkenes.” Chemistry – A European Journal 2022. 28, e202104340 (Featured in Org. Chem. Highlights)
Vang, Z. P.; Reyes, A.; Sonstrom, R. E.; Holdren, M. S.; Sloane, S. E.; Alansari, I. Y.; Neill, J. L.; Pate, B. H.; Clark, J. R.* “Copper-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrodeuteration of Aryl Alkenes with Quantitative Isotopomer Purity Analysis by Molecular Rotational Resonance Spectroscopy.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 2021, 143, 7707-7718.
Vang, Z. P.; Hintzsche, S. J.; Clark, J. R.* “Catalytic Transfer Deuteration and Hydrodeuteration: Emerging Techniques to Selectively Transform Alkenes and Alkynes to Deuterated Alkanes.” Chemistry – A European Journal 2021, 27, 9988-10000. (Selected by the editors as an outstanding review-type article)
Sloane, S. E.; Reyes, A.; Vang, Z. P.; Li, L.; Behlow, K. T.; Clark, J. R.* “Copper-Catalyzed Formal Transfer Hydrogenation/Deuteration of Aryl Alkynes” Organic Letters 2020, 22, 9139-9144.
Clark, J. R.* “Challenges Facing Young Scientists in Academia and Industry in the United States from the Lens of a Millennial Academic” Chemistry – A European Journal 2020, 26, 15759-15762.
Clark, J. R.; Feng, K.; Sookezian, A.; White, M. C. “Manganese-Catalyzed Benzylic C(sp3)–H Amination for Late-Stage Functionalization.” Nature Chemistry 2018, 10, 583-591 (Featured on the cover of Nature Chemistry. Also featured in Chemical and Engineering News May 7, 2018 p 11).