Jose Mondragon

jmondragon [at] berkeley [dot] edu

Jose was born in Lima, Peru, but moved to New Jersey at the age of 7, where he resided until leaving to attend Cornell University in New York. Throughout his time as an undergraduate, he conducted research for two groups. Initially working with Professor Song Lin on the asymmetric radical cyclization cascades mediated by Ti(III) salen complexes and conducting DFT mechanistic studies on electrochemically driven cross electrophile couplings, then later deciding to work in the field of organometallics with Professor Peter Wolczanski on the development of strained small molecule initiators as a novel way of accessing alkylidenes. After developing a strong interest in organometallics and an appreciation for mechanistic studies, Jose decided to move out to the bay area in the summer of 2022 to join the Hartwig Group, and is currently investigating the mechanism behind copper catalyzed C-N cross coupling reactions. Outside of the lab Jose enjoys playing video games/card games, listening to rock, and reading books/manga.