Dr. Chris Turlington joined the Hope College Department of Chemistry in 2017.

The Turlington lab is interested in discovering new reactions catalyzed by transition metals that will stitch together inexpensive organic molecules into inexpensive building blocks for prescription drugs.

See Dr. Turlington’s current research 

Areas of Interest

• Ruthenium catalysts for nitrile oxidation
• Biodegradable, polymer-supported oxidants
• Organometallic polymers

Education

• Ph.D., chemistry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2015
• B.S., chemistry, Furman University, 2010

Honors, Grants and Awards

• ACS-PRF Undergraduate New Investigator Award, 2017 ($55,000)
• NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32), Stanford University, 2015
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2010
• Phi Beta Kappa, inducted 2010
• Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, 2009

Selected Publications

For a full list of publications and academic citations, see Dr. Turlington’s CV.

• “Nitrile Oxidation at a Ruthenium Complex leading to Intermolecular Imido Group Transfer,” with James E. Bird, Cole A. Hammond, Kjersti G. Oberle, Erin E. Ramey, Yutong Zou and Ryan C. Lash, Organometallics, 39, 3775-3779, 2020
• “Cross-linked poly(4-vinylpyridine-N-oxide) as a polymer-supported oxygen atom transfer reagent,” with Anna M. Bauer, Erin E. Ramey, Kjersti G. Oberle, Gretchen A. Fata and Chloe D. Hutchison, Tetrahedron Letters, 60, 151193, 2019

Affiliations

• American Chemical Society (ACS), 2017–present

Institutional Service

• Mentor to the student-run ACS Chemistry Club, 2019–present
• General Chemistry Coordinator, 2019-2020
• “Teaching Science in Prison” Committee, 2019

Outside the College

Chris grew up farming tomatoes with his family in western North Carolina. Working with his family to make ends meet is one of the most formative experiences of his life. Chris is happy to be out of the fields and working as a chemistry professor today!