Ashley Longstreet
Assistant Professor
Office: SA 104
Education and Training:
- 2010 Lynchburg College, B.S. in Chemistry and Biomedical Science
- 2015 Florida State University, Ph.D. in Chemistry; with Dr. D. Tyler McQuade
- 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Organic Chemistry; with Dr. Timothy F. Jamison
Research Interests:
Human-made organic molecules are major components in essential industries and building them requires chemical reactions that are efficient by utilizing inexpensive, non-toxic reagents that produce minimal waste. Reactions that produce carbon radicals, a carbon with an unpaired electron, are valuable due to their ability to facilitate transformations that allow chemists to piece together small molecules to produce large, more complex structures. Recently, molecules known as photocatalysts garnered attention due to their ability to generate the necessary radicals under mild conditions using only a fraction of the photocatalyst to minimize waste. Our research investigates the function of molecules called carbazoles as photocatalysts by demonstrating how the carbazole derivatives are valuable as photocatalysts in different transformations.
The project will allow undergraduates to step into the laboratory and give them the opportunity to learn organic chemistry through a “hands-on” learning environment, which enhances the University’s “learn by doing” philosophy. By working in the lab, students will develop their technical laboratory and critical thinking skills and grow into independent scientists. Students will also have the opportunity to gain valuable oral presentation skills by presenting at local, regional, and national conferences and written communication by participating in the writing process for internal grants and their final paper for CHE 454.
(Undergraduate authors in bold type. *Corresponding authors.)
Weinhold, T.D.; Reece, N.A.; Ribeiro, K.; Lopez Ocasio, M.; Watson, N.; Hanson, K.; Longstreet, A. R.* "Assessing Carbazole Derivatives as Single-Electron Photoreductants." J. Org. Chem. 2022, 87, 16928.
(Undergraduate co-authors in bold type. Presenting author underlined.)
Ribeiro, K.; Longstreet, A.R.* Investigating the C–H Arylation of Furan using a Carbazole Derivative as a Photocatalyst. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, November 2021, Birmingham, AL. (Poster presentation)
Reece, N.A.; Longstreet, A.R.* A Carbazole Derivative as a Photocatalyst in the C–H Arylation of N-Methylpyrrole. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, November 2021, Birmingham, AL. (Poster presentation)
Lopez Ocasio, M.; Ribeiro, K.; Longstreet, A.R.* Carbazole Derivatives as Photocatalysts in the C–H Arylation of Furan and n-Butyl Vinyl Ether. American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 2021. (Due to COVID-19, the conference was virtual)
Weinhold, T.D.; Chin, M.; Ocasio Lopez, M.; Longstreet, A.R.* Investigating of Carbazole as Photocatalysts in the Reductive Dehalogenation of Aryl Halides. American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 2020, Philadelphia, PA. (Due to COVID-19, the conference was converted to an online format. A poster was submitted, but the students did not attend)
Longstreet, A.R.; Chin, M.A.; Keller, M.; Lopez Ocasio, M.; Weinhold, T.D. Photoredox Catalysis in the Undergraduate Research Laboratory: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Carbazoles as Single-Electron Reductants. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, October 2019, Savannah, GA. (Oral presentation)
Weinhold, T.D.; Longstreet, A.R.* C–H Functionalization of Five-Membered Heteroarenes with Aryl Halides Using Carbazoles as Photocatalysts. Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, October 2019, Savannah, GA. (Poster presentation)
Weinhold, T.D.; Keller, M.; Longstreet, A.R.* Carbazole derivatives as photocatalysts for the dehalogenation of substituted benzenes. American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 2019, Orlando, FL. (Poster presentation)
Keller, M.; Weinhold, T.D.; Longstreet, A.R.* Synthesis and characterization of carbazoles for photoredox catalysis. American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 2019, Orlando, FL. (Poster presentation)
