Willi M. Amberg

wamberg [at] berkeley [dot] edu

Willi, born in 1997 in Germany, obtained his bachelor’s degree from Heidelberg University in 2018 and his master’s degree from ETH Zurich in 2020. For his PhD studies he joined the group of Prof. Erick M. Carreira at ETH Zurich where he accomplished the first total synthesis of (+)-aberrarone. To further broaden his scientific expertise, he investigated new catalytic systems in the context of photoredox catalysis. His work resulted in novel transformations including the cyclopropanation of unactivated olefins, a photo- and cobalt-catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles, and the anti-Markovnikov hydroazidation of unactivated olefins, amongst others. In 2024 Willi graduated from ETH Zurich and joined the group of Prof. John F. Hartwig as an SNSF postdoctoral fellow. During his time at UC Berkeley, he aims to gain expertise in organometallic chemistry. Beyond his research pursuits you will spot him cooking or outdoors, letting his mind wander.