Mark Mascal

Research activities are focused in the following areas:

1. The conversion of plant biomass into organic molecules of interest as fuels and value-added products.
2. The design and synthesis of topologically and theoretically interesting organic molecules, particularly bowl-shaped heterotriquinanes and heteroacepentalenes.
3. The concise synthesis of medicinally important molecules, particularly extracyclic indole alkaloids and cannabinoids.
4. Highly selective anion and cation complexation in cylindrophane hosts.
5. The application of non-covalent design principles, particularly hydrogen bonding, to the control of molecular association.
6. The computational investigation of non-covalent interactions and their application to novel receptor design.

Education, Awards and Professional Highlights

• Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis (2011-present)
• Associate Professor, Department of Chemsitry, University of California, Davis (2007)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis (2003)
• Donald J. Cram Teacher-Scholar and Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles (2000-2003)
• NSF CAREER Award
• ConocoPhillips 50K Energy Prize
• Editorial Board, ChemSusChem
• Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

Representative Publications

• "Butenolide Derivatives of Biobased Furans: Sustainable Synthetic Dyes." J. Saska, Z. Li, A. L. Otsuki, J. Wei, J. C. Fettinger, M. Mascal, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 17293.
• "Synthetic, non-intoxicating 8,9-dihydrocannabidiol for the mitigation of seizures." M. Mascal, N. Hafezi, D. Wang, Y. Hu, G. Serra, M. L. Dallas, J. P. E. Spencer, Scientific Reports 2019, 9, 1-6.
• "A Zwitterionic, 10pi Aromatic Hemisphere." N. Hafezi, W. T. Shewa, J. C. Fettinger, M. Mascal, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 14141.
• "The Angelica Lactone Dimer as a Renewable Feedstock for Hydrodeoxygenation:  Simple, High-Yield Synthesis of Branched C7-C10 Gasoline Hydrocarbons." M. Mascal, S. Dutta, I. Gandarias, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 1854.
• "Extreme Oxatriquinanes: Structural Characterization of α-Oxyoxonium Species with Extraordinarily Long Carbon-Oxygen Bonds." G. Gunbas, W. L. Sheppard, J. C. Fettinger, M. M. Olmstead, M. Mascal, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 8173.
• "The R3O+…H+ Hydrogen Bond: Toward a Tetracoordinate Oxadionium(2+) Ion." E. S. Stoyanov, G. Gunbas, N. Hafezi, M. Mascal, I. V. Stoyanova, F. S. Tham, C. A. Reed, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 707-714.
• "Extreme oxatriquinanes and a record C‒O bond length." G. Gunbas, N. Hafezi, W. L. Sheppard, M. M. Olmstead, I. V. Stoyanova, F. S. Tham, M. P. Meyer, M. Mascal, Nature Chem. 2012, 4, 1018.