Steve Heller

Excellent question! Nitrogen fertilizers are indeed an important feedstock material for our modern world. Much of the nitrogen used for this purpose comes in the form of ammonia, which we produce from the nitrogen gas in our atmosphere. While this process leaves much to be desired, I focus on developing ways to use simple nitrogen precursors, like ammonia, to efficiently make the complex structures of drugs. If ammonia production is like the process that converts iron ore into steel. My research is like finding ways in which raw steel can be used to make large buildings more cheaply and without generating waste.