Turro Home Page

Nicholas J. Turro is the William P. Schweitzer Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University where he has been since 1964. He also holds professorships at the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. He has been widely recognized by national and international awards as a leader and pioneer in the area of supramolecular chemistry, organic photochemistry, molecular spectroscopy, host-guest chemistry and magnetic effects on photochemical reactions. He has sponsored the PhD thesis of 70 students, has mentored 200 postdocs. Over 100 undergraduates have been trained in research under his supervision. He is the author of two textbooks on Organic Photochemistry, which is considered the “bible” of the field for several generations by organic photochemists since 1965. He has published over 800 research papers and has been selected as one of the most highly cited chemists for the past two decades. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

See his vitae HTML | PDF.

Turro Group 2009

What we do

Our research group deals with the photon as a reagent for initiating photoreactions and as a product of the deactivation of electronically excited molecules. Because photons can selectively excite specific atoms or molecules, they are utilized to study the chemistry and properties of reactive intermediates such as carbenes, radical pairs, singlet oxygen, and biradicals in the confined spaces of zeolites, dendrimers and biological molecules.

Detailed Research Overview

In the news (Complete Coverage)

First Class! Professor Turro has been honored as a member of the inaugural class of ACS Fellows for excellence in chemistry and service to society.

Magic Hat #9 won the semi-annual 2009 Turro Group Beer Tasting!

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Download a NSF Highlight regarding recent work on the photo-functionalization of soft (polymer) and hard substrates from the Turro and Koberstein groups.

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A New Edition of Modern Molecular Photochemistry of Organic Molecules has arrived! The text also has a primer for general reading, Principles of Molecular Photochemistry: An Introduction.

Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences recently published an issue dedicated to Prof. Turro's accomplishments (Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2008, 7).

For V. Ramamurthy's article, "Turro the researcher, mentor and teacher" (Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2008, 7, 1441-1443), click here.

A Symposium on H₂@C₆₀ was held at the Columbia University Department of Chemistry on August 15, 2008.

For symposium information, click here.

A Symposium on Newer Trends in Photochemistry honored the 70th birthday of Nicholas J. Turro. The symposium was held at the Columbia University Department of Chemistry on May 23–24, 2008.

For symposium information and photos, click here.

Professor Turro received the 100th Nichols Medal from the New York branch of the ACS at a Symposium on March 16, 2007.

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