Meet Ampofo
Ampofo was born in Accra, Ghana in 1982 and moved to the US in 1991. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Guilford College in 2004 and his Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of Florida, where he studied tungsten-catalyzed oxidative carbonylation of functionalized amines under the direction of Prof. Lisa McElwee-White. He then performed postdoctoral research with Prof. Joseph Fox at the University of Delaware studying trans-cyclooctenes and their bioorthogonal reactivity with tetrazines. Ampofo joined the chemistry faculty at the University of Tennessee in 2014, where he is now an Associate Professor. Research interests in the Darko lab lie at the interface of organic and inorganic chemistry. Specifically, Ampofo’s group is interested in using nature as an inspiration for organometallic catalyst design, cycloaddition reactions, and organocatalysis. Outside of the lab, Ampofo enjoys listening to music and reading sci-fi novels. His biggest hobby involves watching and playing soccer.
adarko ‘at’ utk.edu (He|him|his)
