The García-Garibay group studies (1) the interaction of light and molecules in crystals and (2) amphidynamic crystals.
1. Interaction of Light and Molecules in Crystals
Light can break and make bonds, and they have shown that crystals offer an opportunity to control the outcome of chemical reactions and other excited state processes. Taking advantage of structural information obtained from single crystal X-ray diffraction and solid state NMR we are able to determine detailed reaction mechanisms, which often leads them to novel green chemistry approaches for the production of complex structures that would be difficult to obtain by traditional methods.
2. Amphidynamic Crystals
We design amphidynamic crystals by taking advantage of rigid building blocks that are able to form an ordered crystal lattice combined with elements that are able to express high mobility and functionality. Crystals of molecular compasses and gyroscopes are among the best known examples. In fact, amphidynamic crystals were first invented by the García-Garibay group when we wanted to develop a platform for the construction of smart materials and artificial molecular machines.
Group News
3/27/24 Check out our most recent paper on triplet exciton-mediated quantum chain using crystals in PNAS!
6/10/21 Amphidynamic zirconium MOFs! Check out our paper in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
6/3/21 Our paper presenting new electron spin qubit pair candidates, check it out in JACS!
5/24/21 Welcome Javier! We are glad to have our newest post-doc join the group.
5/17/21 Check out our latest paper in JACS on designing molecular spur gears with high gearing fidelity.
3/08/21 Solid-state photodecarbonylation enabled natural product synthesis is out in JACS! Congrats Jordan, Ieva and Vince!
2/15/21 Our paper on spontaneous dipolar ordering is now out in Nature Chemistry!
6/05/20 Congratulations to Vince on receiving the 2020-2021 UCLA Graduate Division Dissertation Year Fellowship!
5/24/20 Congratulations to Jordan, Marcus and Ieva on their departmental awards! Jordan was awarded the Majeti-Alapati Dissertation Award, Marcus received the Majeti-Alapati Excellence in Research Award and Ieva got the George Gregory Excellence in Research Award.
4/10/20 Check out our latest research outputs on molecular spur gears and crystalline ketones!
Our study on dielectric properties and rotational dynamics of Hydrogen-Bonded and Charge-Transferred Diazabicyclo [2.2.2]octane Molecular Rotors is now out in J_A_C_S
Our mechanistic studies of adamantylacetophenones in solution and in solid state is now published in JOC